Israeli officials say they have recovered bodies of 2 hostages
People hold posters of Ilan Weiss at the “International Rally – United We Bring Them Home” rally in Hostage Square on May 18th, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The bodies of two Israeli hostages — including Ilan Weiss who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel — have been recovered, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“The hostage families embrace the family of Ilan Weiss during this difficult time. Ilan’s return fulfills the State of Israel’s fundamental duty to its citizens,” the statement read. “Our hearts are with the family today. Alongside the grief and pain, his return provides some comfort to the family after 692 days of waiting in the nightmare of uncertainty.”
Ilan Weiss, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while his wife and daughter were kidnapped but later released during the first ceasefire in November 2023.
The remains of the second body recovered has not been identified, officials said.
“We wish to express our deep gratitude to the IDF and security forces who have worked and continue to work with dedication and courage,” the statement continued. “Only by bringing home all hostages can we achieve healing and national recovery.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least 37 people were killed and 270 were injured while seeking aid in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing, according to the director of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
An increasing number of deaths due to malnutrition have been reported. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, seven people died of hunger over a 24-hour period on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths from famine to 154 since Oct. 7, 2023, including 89 children.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — As the alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects took off on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a haul of “priceless” jewelry once worn by queens and made of sapphire, diamonds and emeralds.
They haven’t yet been found.
About 24 hours after the brazen theft of some of the most recognizable pieces of glittering French heritage, which were taken during daylight hours from the world’s most-visited museum, a manhunt and investigation are in full swing, according to state and law enforcement officials.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” President Emmanuel Macron said on social media on Sunday.
He and other French officials vowed that the pieces would be returned and the suspects apprehended.
The museum closed on Sunday morning as police swarmed the area in search of suspects and evidence.
“Following yesterday’s robbery at the Louvre, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public today,” officials said on social media on Monday. “Visitors who have already booked tickets will be refunded.”
7 minutes, in and out, authorities say The suspects arrive in pairs, with two in a truck and two riding motorbikes, authorities said on Sunday. The truck was equipped with a moving ladder, a “mobile freight elevator” of the type city furniture movers sometimes use, Paris police said.
The suspects allegedly parked the truck on a road that runs along the side of the museum, near the Seine, police said.
They were wearing yellow vests, dressed as construction workers might be, police said. They took the time to secure the area near the truck by placing orange construction cones around it, police said.
They then used the ladder to get up to the second floor, climbing onto a thin balcony with a metal railing outside the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where some of the French crown jewels were kept, according to police.
Once they had used an angle grinder to open the window, they clambered through it, police said. Their entrance triggered the alarm, which was still sounding when they left, the museum said in a statement.
“Inside, they then smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ using the angle grinder and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewelry,” police said.
When they left through the same window about seven minutes later, they had with them nine pieces of jewerly of “inestimable” value, as France’s interior minister described them on Sunday. Other officials, including Rachida Dati, the culture minister, described them to French media as “priceless.”
According to the French Ministry of Culture, among the items stolen was a diadem, or crown, from the collection of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the collection of Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife; and a large bow brooch from Empress Eugenie’s bodice.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said the perpetrators tried and failed to set fire to the mobile freight elevator they used in the heist before they fled the scene.
A ‘total’ investigation is underway Officials at the museum said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the “organized theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.”
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will oversee the case, tapped a specialized group of detectives, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, which is part of the French National Police, to lead the investigation, according to the Louvre’s statement.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, told a local TV station on Sunday that about 60 investigators were working on the case, showing “total determination” to find those responsible.
As of Monday morning, police had not yet said whether they had any leads on the possible identities of the suspects.
Officials said the suspects appeared to have been professionals. Beccuau on Sunday described it as an organized crime, saying officials hadn’t ruled out possible foreign involvement, but also that investigators were treating it as a domestic case at the moment.
“Everything is being done to apprehend the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as quickly as possible,” Laurent Nunez, the interior minister, said on Sunday.
(LONDON) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of two newly developed types of missiles, state media reported, launches that came as the United States and South Korea held their annual military drills to the south.
The two missiles tested on Saturday were designed to target aerial threats, including attack drones and cruise missiles, the Korea Central News Agency reported on Sunday.
State media reported few details on the projectiles, other than describing them as “improved” versions, saying they were “based on unique and special technology.”
The launches came days after the Monday start of “Ulchi Freedom Shield 25,” joint military exercises that are ongoing in South Korea. Those training exercises, which include live-fire drills, were scheduled to run through Thursday.
The U.S. State Department in announcing that the drills had begun said they were intended to reaffirm “the ironclad commitment between the U.S. and South Korea to defend their homelands.”
A North Korean military official described those exercises as destabilizing for the Korean Peninsula, accusing the United States and South Korea of “the destruction of balance of power in the region.”
A spokesperson for the Korean People’s Army told Rodong Sinmun, a state-owned newspaper, that the “reckless” drills were being run by “warmongers,” adding that the exercises were pushing the Korean Peninsula into “extreme tension.”
North Korean state media published on Sunday an image of Kim meeting with military officials, along with several images of missiles in mid-air. It was not immediately clear where the missile tests had taken place.
As the drills began on Monday, Kim was touring a North Korean naval destroyer, KCNA reported. He reportedly said during that visit that the U.S.-South Korea drills could “ignite a war” and that North Korea should push for a “rapid expansion of nuclearization.”
