Israel recovers bodies of 2 American-Israeli hostages from Gaza
Demonstrators protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip/ Saeed Qaq/Anadolu via Getty Images
(JERUSALEM AND LONDON) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday morning that Israeli forces recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages held by Hamas and returned them to Israel.
Judy Weinstein-Hagi, 70, and Gadi Hagi, 72, were a couple from kibbutz Nir Oz close to the Gaza frontier. Both were dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, with Judy also holding Canadian citizenship.
Their bodies were recovered from the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip in a special operation by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet, according to the statement released by Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said the couple were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and their bodies abducted. The IDF had previously determined they were killed on the day of Hamas’ surprise attack by the same terror group, Kitab al-Mujahidin, that abducted and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young children.
“We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our abductees home — the living and the dead alike,” Netanyahu said.
Fifty-six hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive, according to figures provided by the prime minister’s office. Two Americans — Itay Chen and Omer Neutra — are among the 36 hostages believed to be dead.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday pushed for Karol Nawrocki to be president of Poland while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Warsaw, decrying his opponent as a “train wreck.”
It is an extraordinary move for a sitting member of the U.S. Cabinet to advocate for a political candidate in a foreign country.
Noem spoke for more than 20 minutes at CPAC, an American group that seeks to spread conservative ideas and held its first conference in Poland on Tuesday.
She claimed there is no time for “nice words,” saying, “We do not have time to dance around the dangers that threaten our societies.”
“It matters who’s in charge,” Noem told the crowd. “I have watched over the years as socialists and people that are just like this mayor out of Warsaw that is an absolute train wreck of a leader have destroyed our countries because they have led by fear.
“They have used fear to control people, and they’ve used fear to promote an agenda that is not what liberty is about, that is not what freedom is about,” she said.
The Polish runoff election for president is on Sunday, June 1, with Nawrocki as the conservative choice and Rafal Trzaskowski for the Civic Platform party.
Nawrocki visited President Donald Trump earlier this year.
“He needs to be the next president of Poland,” Noem said of Nawrocki. “Do you understand me?”
Noem then took aim at “weak” European leaders who have allowed in migrants and “destroyed their civilizations.”
“You have enforced your borders. You have protected who comes into your country, enforced your visa programs. You’ve done good work to make sure that this country has a different story,” she told the crowd.
“But you have much more to do, and you are threatened with a leader who is on the ballot who would take all of that protection away from you, who would open you up to much of the experiences that America had to live through under our last president, Joe Biden,” she added, offering pointed criticisms at Biden and her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas.
She argued America “lived through four years of hell” and that the public made a choice in electing Trump in November.
“Thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals came into our country, hundreds of known terrorists infiltrated our country and our communities,” she said. “And our families were murdered and raped and victimized, arrested, released again by his administration to continue the fear agenda that he was trying to promote and to allow political power to be in his hands but not in the people any longer.”
Noem praised Trump as making the United States “safer” for the public.
“Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol if you make him the leader of this country,” she said.
“You can be that shining city on a hill that the rest of Europe and the world will watch and know how strong you are, how free you are because you’ve elected the right leader that will protect it and defend it and ensure that every individual is treated the same and has equal rights as afforded to them,” she added.
Noem also said that if the Polish elect the right person, the country will continue to have the backing of the U.S.
“If you have elected a leader that will work with President Donald J. Trump, the Polish people will have an ally strong that will ensure that you will be able to fight off enemies that do not share your values,” she said. “You will have strong borders and protect your communities and keep them safe and ensure that your citizens are respected every single day. You will continue to have a U.S. presence here, a military presence, for Trump, that we can work together for the security of both of our nations.”
CPAC will go to Hungary later this week, but it is unclear if Noem or any other U.S. officials will speak at the conference.
(LONDON) — Hundreds of Ukrainian drones crossed into Russia overnight into Wednesday morning, dozens of which targeted Moscow and again caused disruption to flights in and out of the capital, according to officials there.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 296 Ukrainian drones over 12 regions — including the capital Moscow — during the latest round of long-range strikes.
Moscow Governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram that at least 42 drones were downed over the region. Vorobyov reported damage to three homes in the town of Chekhov around 40 miles south of the capital.
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport — one of four international airports in the capital — also warned travelers of delays due to flight restrictions imposed during the latest drone attack. Recent weeks have seen regular disruptions to Moscow’s airports during such strikes.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram there were “some pretty good hits” during Tuesday night’s attack.
Among the targets were the Dubna Machine-Building Plant — involved in the production of aviation, missile and drone technology, Kovalenko said — in the city of Dubna, around 70 miles north of Moscow.
Kovalenko said the Technopark ELMA-Zelenograd facility — which hosts the development of microelectronics, IT, robotics and medical equipment — was also targeted. The facility “is one of the centers where import substitution of critical components previously imported from the West takes place,” Kovalenko said.
ABC News could not immediately verify Kovalenko’s claim of successful strikes on the facilities.
Russia continued its own long-range attacks on Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s air force said Moscow launched six missiles and 88 strike drones into the country, of which 71 drones were shot down or otherwise neutralized. The air force said it recorded impacts in eight locations.
The intensity of strikes by both sides have only increased since President Donald Trump’s return to office in January, the president having promised to end Russia’s war on its neighbor war in 24 hours. Trump has not delivered on that promise, and his frustration appears to have been building in recent weeks with the continued failure of U.S.-led ceasefire efforts.
Trump called Putin “absolutely crazy” in a Sunday social media post, then on Tuesday said Putin “doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”
The U.S. and Ukraine are now waiting for Russia to deliver its peace memorandum — a document promised by Putin to Trump during a phone call between the two leaders earlier this month. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Tuesday that Moscow was still working on the document.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast doubt on the Russian proposal. “They’ve already spent over a week on this,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday. “They talk a lot about diplomacy. But when, in the midst of all that, there are constant Russian strikes, constant killings, relentless assaults, and even preparations for new offensives.”
On Wednesday, Andriy Yermak — the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office — wrote on Telegram, “Russians are masters of empty words.”
Valeria Zarudna/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The details of talks between the U.S. and Russia that took place in Saudi Arabia on Monday will not be made public, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
“After all, this is about technical talks,” Peskov said, as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. The discussions, he added, went “into details so, certainly, the content of these talks will not be made public for sure. This is something that should not be expected.”
“Currently, the reports made [by the delegations] to their capitals are being analyzed, and only later it will be possible to speak of any understanding,” Peskov added.
Monday’s closed-door talks in Riyadh lasted for 12 hours, a source told Tass. A source told the RIA Novosti state media agency that a joint statement on the negotiations was to be issued on Tuesday.
Grigory Karasin, the chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, who took part in the talks in Riyadh, told Tass that “the dialogue was detailed and complex but quite useful for us and for the Americans.” Karasin added, “We discussed numerous issues.”
The talks were expected to include discussions on a potential ceasefire in the Black Sea, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. That proposal, Peskov said, came from President Donald Trump and was agreed to by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A proposed pause in long-range attacks on energy and other critical infrastructure targets was also expected to be part of discussions. Though Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy both agreed to the proposal in principle last week, cross-border strikes have continued.
U.S. and Ukrainian representatives held talks after the American meeting with the Russian team concluded, a source familiar with the discussions told ABC News.
On Monday, responding to another round of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, Zelenskyy wrote on social media that “the war was brought from Russia and it is to Russia that the war must be pushed back. They must be the ones forced into peace. They are the ones who must be pressured to ensure security.”
On Monday night into Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched one missile and 139 drones into the country, of which 78 drones were shot down and 34 lost in flight without causing damage.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down five Ukrainian drones over occupied Crimea.
ABC News’ Anna Sergeeva, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy, Will Gretsky, Ellie Kaufman and Guy Davies contributed to this report.
