Israel ignores Biden's warning, blows away Hamas terrorists and frees hostages in Rafah
President Joe Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday against executing a military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah. Hours later, Israel did so anyway, killing a handful of Hamas terrorists.
While Biden's national security spokesman claimed last week that such an operation would "be a disaster," Israeli commandos managed to successfully rescue two hostages: Fernando Simon Marmon, 61, and Louis Har, 70, both of whom were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak during the Oct. 7 massacre.
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According to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli commandos carried out the hostage rescue mission in Rafah early Monday morning.
"The hostages ... were held captive in harsh conditions," said Hagari. "They were intentionally held in the middle of a civilian neighborhood, inside a civilian building to try and prevent us from rescuing them. But we did."
The Times of Israel reported that the Yamam counterterrorism unit executed the mission in concert with the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF around 1 a.m. in Rafah. The commandos battled their way to the second floor of an apartment building deep inside Rafah where the hostages were being held, then breached with explosives nearly an hour later.
Hagari noted that after blowing away three terrorists at the scene, the commandos "hugged and protected Louis and Fernando with their bodies."
"The troops pulled Louis and Fernando out of the apartment and rescued them under fire, until they reached the safe zone," continued Hagari.
As the rescue operation unfolded, Hamas terrorists in the area reportedly moved in on the rescuers. The Israeli Air Force apparently made quick work of them with multiple airstrikes on adjacent buildings. Extra to air support, the rescuers had the backing of the Israeli Navy's Shayetet 13 command unit and the 7th Armored Brigade while making their withdrawal.
Hagari indicated that "many terrorists were eliminated tonight in this action."
The Guardian, a leftist publication out of Britain often critical of Israel's self-defense, claimed that mosques and several homes were targeted by Israeli airstrikes, tanks, and ships. Reuters reported that 67 Palestinians were killed in the operation.
After undergoing medical examinations, Marmon and Har, Argentine-Israelis, were reunited with their families.
Hagari stressed that the mission underscored the importance and moral impetus of such operations, especially when "134 men, women, children and elderly are still being held hostage in Gaza."
Netanyahu, whom Biden has allegedly called an "a**hole" thrice in recent instances, celebrated the win Monday, stating, "This is a day of joy mixed with sadness: Joy over the release of our hostages and sadness over our fallen soldiers. However, I would like to tell you that the freeing of Louis and Fernando was one of the most successful rescue operations in the history of Israel."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, joined other Israel critics in concern-mongering about the successful operation, stating, "I am especially concerned by the recent attacks on Rafah where the majority of Gaza's population has fled the destruction."
The Israeli prime minister welcomed the hostages home and stressed that "only continued military pressure, until total victory, will bring about the release of all of our hostages. We will not miss any opportunity to bring them home."
On Thursday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed that an Israeli operation in Rafah "would be a disaster for those people, and we would not support it," reported the Washington Post.
A White House readout of Biden's Sunday call with Netanyahu indicates that the geriatric Democrat "reaffirmed his view that a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there."
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Devastated Irishman says he was grateful to learn his daughter had been killed by Hamas rather than taken hostage: 'Death was a blessing'
Hamas terrorists have taken as many as 150 captives into Gaza following their savage attacks on Israel. Thomas Hand's daughter is not among them. Rather, she is among the over 1,200 Israelis murdered in recent days.
Upon learning that his little girl may ultimately have been spared the inhumanities captives often suffer at the hands of Hamas, the devastated Irishman reportedly rejoiced, later telling CNN, "Death was a blessing."
Hundreds of hostages facing unimaginable horrors
The Israel Defense Forces indicated Thursday that more than 95 families have been notified that their loved ones were taken hostage.
The New York Times noted that most of those Hamas has taken hostage were seized from their homes along Israel's border with Gaza. Among them are infants, children, people with disabilities, and geriatrics. Many are believed to have been stowed away by Hamas in various tunnels beneath Gaza.
Some Israelis have seen footage of their abducted family members circulated online.
Yoni Asher told the Times he saw a video online of his wife, Doron Asher Katz, in the back of a pickup truck surrounded by Islamist terrorists.
"I can't sleep — I'm living outside my own body," said Asher, noting that his 5- and 3-year-old daughters were with his wife when she was taken.
Writing in Newsweek, Asher said, "The captors need to release them as soon as they can. It's a critical window of time. There's not much time for little babies in captivity. Adults can hold on a few days. But not them."
Another couple saw their two children, including a 9-month-old, among the hostages in another video.
According to the Times of London, the terrorists are divided on what to do with the abducted women and children. Some allegedly are eager to get rid of them, recognizing that the videos of their beaten and bloody victims have unified support against them even in parts of the Arab world and have further legitimized the ballistic fury of the Israeli military.
Other factions want to keep the victims alive and use them as bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges.
"The idea of a prisoner swap now seems very distant," said Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times.
Monday night, Hamas threatened to butcher a civilian hostage every time an Israeli airstrike hit Gazans "in their homes without warning."
Extra to executions, there have been multiple reports of Hamas terrorists sexually abusing their victims.
One survivor of the massacre at the Supernova music festival told the Tablet, "Women have been raped at the area of the rave next to their friends' bodies, dead bodies."
Several of the apparent rape victims were reportedly later executed, while others were taken to Gaza, where they were paraded through the city's streets with bloodied pelvic regions.
A 2022 U.N. report detailed various accounts of how Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have subject prisoners to various tortures in the past, including systematic abuses of a sexual nature.
A father's grief and unexpected solace
Unlike Asher and other family members whose loved ones were taken by Hamas, Thomas Hand is now certain of his 8-year-old daughter's fate.
Hand moved to the Be'eri kibbutz as a volunteer from Ireland 30 years ago and has lived there ever since. Although his wife recently died of cancer, he has not been alone thanks to his daughter, Emily, reported CNN.
Hand's daughter, Emily, went to a neighbor's house in the Be'eri Kibbutz for a sleepover Friday for "a girly night," according the grieving father.
The next morning around 7 a.m., terrorists stormed the kibbutz.
"Until I heard the shots. And it was already too late. If I had known … I could have maybe ran, got her, got her friend, got the mother, brought them back to my place. But by the time I realized what was happening, it was already too late," said Hand, noting the kibbutz had then been overrun by terrorists.
Hours later, Hand and other survivors were evacuated by the military to a hotel on the Dead Sea. Two days later he learned that Emily was among the 120 who had been massacred.
"They just said, 'We found Emily. She's dead,' and I went, 'Yes!' I went, 'yes!' and smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew," Hand told CNN. "That was the best possibility that I was hoping for. She was either dead or in Gaza."
"And if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death. That is worse than death," continued the grief-stricken father. "She'd be in a dark room filled with Christ knows how many people and terrified every minute, hour, day, and possibly years to come. So death was a blessing, an absolute blessing."
"In this crazy world, here is me hoping my daughter is dead," Hand later added.
In a heart-wrenching interview on @CNNsitRoom, CNN reporter Clarissa Ward speaks with @WolfBlitzer about a grieving father who finally received confirmation of his daughter's tragic death during the Hamas attack. Watch:— CNN (@CNN) 1697082327
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Ohio traffic stop goes sideways after couple takes a trucker hostage, then leads police on a 3-hour police chase, ending in gunfire and blood
Bodycam footage shows an officer from the London Police Department stopping the couple around 1 a.m. in Madison County, then approaching the van on the passenger's side.
"I just came from the ER," the 51-year-old female passenger told the officer, while her compatriot feigned shock about the lack of lights.
The officer indicated that "not a single light back there" was functioning, but reassured the couple they still might be able to get home since their brake lights were still operable — assuming, of course, the 54-year-old driver could provide some form of identification.
Appearing cooperative, the couple told the officer their names were Ronald and Barbara Taylor and that they were in town traveling. The driver ultimately failed to produce a driver's license, Social Security number, or temporary tags for his vehicle.
WBNS-TV reported that the suspects have since been identified as Elaine and Rodney Helman of Dayton.
As the officer walked away to check what LPD Chief Glenn Nicol indicated was false information, the driver revved his engine and veered off.
The couple made their way to a nearby BP gas station, where they bailed out of the van along with their dog and bolted in search of an alternate mode of transportation.
Police, who had given chase, pursued the suspects on foot.
As one officer came up on the suspects, he drew his taser and announced he would employ it should they fail to stand down. The male suspect allegedly drew a handgun, forcing the officer to take over behind a pickup truck.
The LPD indicated in a statement the suspect "pointed a handgun at the officer" after falling during the initial foot chase.
Nicol indicated that while the man did not ultimately shoot the officer, a live round was found at the truck stop.
LPD5 Bodycam youtu.be
The suspects managed to steal into an unlocked semi truck with no trailer but with the driver still inside, whom they reportedly took hostage.
In the semi and in the company of the unlucky truck driver, the couple blasted past the additional officers who had responded to the scene, striking a police cruiser in the process.
Taking once more to the road, the couple commenced a 2.5-hour chase.
Nicol indicated the top speeds reached in the pursuit were between 60 and 65 mph, reported the Daily Mail.
"Usually we try not to engage in such a long pursuit," said Nicol. "However with the speeds and the seriousness of crime and with the abduction taking place, we had to maintain contact with that vehicle."
The Ohio State Highway Patrol and Madison County sheriffs joined officers from the LPD in the pursuit, which ended off Interstate 70 near the Dayton International Airport just before 3:30 a.m..
Although the chase had come to an end, the standoff was only just beginning.
According to authorities, the OSHP's special response team arrived later Wednesday morning, while personnel with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office attempted to negotiate with the suspects.
Around 7:30 a.m., the special response team in tactical gear approached the suspects in the semi "in an attempt to remove the hostage."
As the troopers approached the semi, they were reportedly shot at.
In response, the troopers returned fire, with one trooper allegedly blasting the cab over 20 times with his sidearm. Both suspects were hit in the exchange.
Fortunately, the hostage got out with only minor injuries, and no officers were reported injured in the shooting.
After the decisive firefight, troopers took the suspects into custody, both of whom were transported to the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. Both suspects were pronounce dead at the hospital.
Suspect killed, another seriously hurt after troopers fired shots into stolen semi during standoff youtu.be
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Shocking video: Standoff between police and escaped convict with hostages at Victoria's Secret in Miami ends with cops fatally shooting perp
Shocking video shows a harrowing situation when a man took hostages at knifepoint at a Victoria's Secret store in Miami Beach on Thursday. The nail-biting standoff ended with police fatally shooting the perp.
An escaped convict from New Hampshire took hostages at a Victoria's Secret store in Miami Beach, Florida.
Darien Young, 29, escaped from the minimum-security Calumet House Transitional Housing Unit near Concord, New Hampshire, on July 21, according to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections.
Young had been suspected of shoplifting at the lingerie store on Lincoln Road, WPLG reported.
Around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Young took a mother and daughter hostage at knifepoint at the Victoria's Secret store.
Officers with the Miami Beach Police Department responded to the hostage situation.
Young is seen on gripping video behind the store's checkout counter during the standoff clutching the neck of one of the hostages. The daughter is seen with her hands folded, seemingly in prayer.
A witness told WPLG that Young repeatedly shouted, "I'm gonna kill her, I’m gonna kill her, don’t make me hurt her don’t make me hurt her."
The police officer is heard telling the escaped convict, "Put it down man, please put it down."
Police shot the hostage-taker, who was then transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Young was in critical condition at the hospital's trauma unit, but reportedly died several hours later.
The Miami Beach Police Department said in a statement, "The two victims are safe and speaking with detectives."
None of the witnesses, police, or Victoria's Secret employees were harmed during the hostage situation and shooting.
The Miami Beach Police Department said the fatal officer-involved shooting will be investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In New Hampshire, Young had been imprisoned for receiving stolen property, burglary, falsifying physical evidence, and drug charges. Officials from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections said Young was eligible for parole on July 31, with a maximum release date of Jan. 31, 2028.
Authorities said it was unclear why Young made the 1,500-mile journey from Concord, New Hampshire, to Miami Beach, Florida.
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(WARNING: Graphic video)
Miami Beach police shoot, kill Victoria's Secret hostage-taker www.youtube.com
Hostage saved after police blow away machete-wielding suspect
North Miami Beach Police officers took decisive action Thursday, sparing a hostage from a potential beheading.
Edridge Alexis, 38, allegedly threatened his family with a machete, then made his way into a medical office building, where he took a woman hostage, reported the Miami Herald.
Police responded to the scene after receiving reports of a man wielding a large knife near Alexis' home.
According to NMBP Chief Harvette Smith, officers first attempted nonlethal means to defuse the situation, imploring Alexis to drop the weapon. After the suspect threatened his own life with the blade, officers reportedly tased him; however, this proved to only enrage him further.
Alexis reportedly ran into a nearby medical office building armed with the machete.
Inside, the suspect allegedly tried to break down several locked doors, prompting health care providers in one instance to barricade an entryway. Having failed to gain entry to the medical offices, Alexis allegedly took a woman in the lobby hostage.
Again police ordered the suspect to drop his weapon, and again he refused.
"The machete [was] pointed at her neck in an attempt to kill her," said Smith.
With the blade so near the victim's throat, police weren't going to take any more chances.
Smith said, "At that point, our officers again gave commands for the subject to drop the knife. The subject refused to drop the knife at that point, making my officers [resort] to using deadly force to save a life."
Police indicated that three shots were fired in total, killing Alexis, saving the woman's life, and restoring order.
The suspect's family members expressed disbelief that Alexis would threaten multiple lives including that of an innocent woman, reported WPLG.
"They can’t tell me, like, 'hey, he got a machete, he trying to cut somebody’s throat,' nah, he ain’t like that," said Wilkenson Alexis, the suspect's brother. "They’re lying. Just be real about [it] ... say you killed someone."
Alexis had previously been charged for various crimes in Miami-Dade County over the years, including trespassing, assault, armed robbery, burglary, battery, driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. He spent the past year in jail and was released in early February, reported WPLG.
Another one of the suspect's relatives said, "For him to go inside the building and put the machete on someone’s neck, they have to give me the proof for that. He’s not like that."
The North Miami Beach Police Department noted on March 18 that "we turned over all body worn camera footage and additional evidence to [the Florida Department of Law Enforcement] as they continue their investigation into Thursday's incident. They have our full cooperation."
The property manager of the office building where the shooting occurred indicated that the incident was caught on camera and that footage corroborates the police officers' account of what took place.
New video shows machete-wielding man later shot by police in North Miami Beach youtu.be
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'We're not doing this, good cop': Woman holding terrified Walmart employee at gunpoint is put down
Holiday merriment quickly dissipated in a Mississippi Walmart on Wednesday when an armed woman took an employee hostage. On account of the quick thinking and good marksmanship of Richland police, that employee will get to see Christmas day.
What are the details?
Police initially responded to an incident involving a weapon around 5:45 p.m. at a Walmart in Richland off U.S. 49, reported WJTV. The matter soon devolved into a hostage situation.
Witnesses told WAPT that an agitated customer got into a confrontation with an employee in the customer services department.
The suspect, identified as 21-year-old Corlunda McGinister of West Helena, Arkansas, can be seen in footage of the incident pressing a handgun to a female Walmart employee, who appears wide-eyed and petrified.
Between semi-coherent outbursts, the suspect yanked the employee around by her uniform, with gun in hand.
\u201cViral video posted to TikTok showed an apparent hostage situation unfold at a Walmart in Richland, Mississippi. A woman held a Walmart employee at gunpoint. News reports indicate the suspect was shot dead by police. No other injuries were reported. \ud83d\udcf9: 504bigmama\u201d— Malik Earnest (@Malik Earnest) 1671707062
In a longer version of the video, the suspect can be heard yelling, "Everybody do what I say" and repeatedly asking for a news anchor.
The individual who captured the ordeal on camera yelled out, "Let her go."
"We're not doing this, good cop," the suspect answered back.
Police appear towards the end of the longer video with their guns drawn. They calmly asked the suspect to put her hands up and her gun down.
Refusing to do either, the suspect then claimed, "They trying to kill me."
Although officers reassured her they had no such intention, the suspect neither released her hostage nor surrendered her weapon.
One shopper noted that as she tried to enter the Walmart, a mass of people began rushing out, some instructing others to leave.
"Of course we ran out. And it was just horrifying and then we heard the gunshot," said the witness.
Police fired on the suspect, thereby killing McGinister, restoring order, and saving the hostage. No one else was injured.
Around 9:20 p.m., the Richland Police Department issued a statement on Facebook indicating that "all of our officers are safe! Walmart is secure and closed at this time. [The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation] will be conducting an independent investigation."
While the Walmart employee got out with her life, RPD Chief Nick McLendon said, "It's devastating for all parties involved — the officers, everybody that was involved in this situation. ... You know, with the Christmas season coming, mental health is a big deal because of the stress involved in the Christmas season."
Walmart employees have suffered a bad turn of luck in recent weeks.
On Nov. 22, a manager at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia, went on a shooting spree, killing six people in the breakroom and then turning the gun on himself.
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The Difference Between Hostages Held by Israel and Hamas | 11/27/23