Freed hostage Karen Munder addresses crowd at NY rally
NEW YORK – Released hostage Karen Munder stood behind the podium on Sunday morning in front of the more than 3,000 people gathered in New York City’s Central Park to recognize the hostages who have been held for over 150 days.
“Hello my friends,” she said shakily. “My name is Karen Munder, and 156 days ago, I was kidnapped from the safe room in my parent’s house in Kibbutz Nir Oz, together with my nine-year-old son Ohad.”
Karen’s parents, Ruth and Abraham, were also kidnapped; her brother Roi was killed. Karen, 55, and her mother and son were released after 49 days in Gaza; her father remains in captivity.
The freed hostage told the crowd that she and five other women were held inside a room in a hospital with Hamas next to them. After two weeks, five children joined them, each being held somewhere alone.
“When we met them, they were in terrible physical and emotional condition,” Munder said. “Every minute there is hell.”
“I stand here today, and I want to thank every one of you for being here today – and every Sunday,” she said. “I asked you to continue to come, demanding and shouting: ‘Bring them home now!’”
Gilad Korngold, father of hostage Tal Shoham, was in tears as he yelled to the crowd urging Americans to take action to pressure lawmakers into reaching a deal.
Tal was taken hostage along with his wife, Adi Shoham, and their children, 3-yearold Yahel and 8-year-old Naveh, as well as Adi’s mother
Shoshan Haran, aunt Sharon Avigdori, and 12-year-old niece Noam.
Everyone, except for Tal, was returned on November 25.
“Seven people of the family were captured in Gaza,” Korngold said. “We have to force them every day not to fall.”
Gilad said a government minister told him last week that his son was not a priority.
“We try to make the war
at all, or if it had been discussed theoretically at some point, and they only did not realize that the US had moved up the timetable.
It was hours before any Israeli defense official knew how to even respond to the question of what the US meant by “establishing a port.”
As of press time, the Prime Minister’s Office had not clarified whether it was in the loop or if the US had made the decision unilaterally.
In the North, Hezbollah fired almost 40 rockets at Israel, launched a drone, and attempted to hit an anti-tank missile. This set off around 58 rocket sirens. No casualties were reported.
On Saturday night, IAF aircraft struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Ayta ash-Shab, a launch post for anti-tank rockets in the area of Maroun al-Ras, and a military structure in the area of Khirbet Selm, where Hezbollah terrorists were sighted.
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah announced the deaths of three of its members. Five terrorists were killed and at least nine wounded by a strike in the village of Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon, according to reports.
Hezbollah said its larger-than-usual barrage on Sunday was in response to the attack on Saturday night.
On Sunday afternoon, the IDF struck a terrorist squad that was preparing to fire an anti-tank missile from the Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) area of southern Lebanon.
In Gaza, an IAF airstrike killed the terrorist responsible for the death of Maj. (res.) Amishar Ben David, the IDF said Sunday.
Ben David, who fell in combat in southern Gaza on Friday, was the cousin of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He was 45 years old.
The operation to kill the terrorist was coordinated between Egoz commandos on the ground and the IAF.
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Michael Gal, 29, of Jerusalem was killed in southern Gaza, the IDF said.
Soldiers from the Nahal Brigade continued to fight in central Gaza and killed 13 Hamas terrorists, the IDF said. The terrorists were eliminated via sniper fire, tank fire, and airstrikes.
In one of the attacks, a drone detected a terrorist squad operating underground, which was then killed by an airstrike. Another five terrorists were killed in another attack, the IDF said.
On Saturday night, soldiers were fired at. Fighter jets along with artillery responded to the source of the fire, the IDF said.
Face-to-face battles between IDF commandos and Hamas terrorists took place in Khan Yunis, with support from the IAF.
Within the past day, the IDF said it had killed 17 terrorists in a series of attacks in Khan Yunis, adding that soldiers from the Maglan Unit discovered weapons, including Kalashnikovs and grenades, as well as ammunition.
In one raid, two Hamas terrorists surrendered to the soldiers, the IDF said.
Airstrikes continued overnight, targeting terrorist infrastructure in the Jabalya and Beit Hanun areas.
Since the beginning of the war, seven aerial logistical supply operations have been conducted by the aerial supply unit of the Marom Brigade, the IDF said Sunday. About 110 tons of supplies were airdropped for the forc