War has cost Israel $53 billion, central bank says
The war has cost Israel $53 billion, its central bank said in its latest forecast.
The conflict has had a “gross effect” on Israel of 198 billion shekels ($53 billion), the Bank of Israel said yesterday, more than half of it attributable to defense spending.
The bank also revised downward its economic forecast, saying Israel’s gross domestic product would grow 2% in 2023 and 2024, compared with estimates in October of 2.3% in 2023 and 2.8% in 2024.
Newly released hostage speaks out about Hamas captivity
We have heard for the first time directly from one of the hostages released as part of the truce deal, speaking out about the ordeal as details of their life while being held in Gaza start to trickle in.
Ruthy Munder, 78, told Israel’s Channel 13 television that she spent the entirety of her time with her daughter, Keren, and grandson, Ohad Munder-Zichri, who celebrated his ninth birthday in captivity. The trio were kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Munder said she was initially fed well in captivity until conditions worsened and people became hungry. She was kept in a “suffocating” room and slept on plastic chairs, covering herself with a sheet, for nearly 50 days, she said.
Her account adds to details that have started to emerge from family members of the released hostages. Some have spoken about food and water shortages in Hamas captivity, others about trauma and dissociation experienced by younger hostages.
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Hostages transported by helicopter in Tel Aviv
One of several helicopters with Israeli hostages released earlier by Hamas lands at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv last night, on the fourth day of the temporary truce.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘remains catastrophic’: UN official
Gaza’s humanitarian situation “remains catastrophic,” said Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and requires the urgent entry of additional aid and supplies in a smooth, predictable, and continuous manner to alleviate the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” Wennesland said in a statement.
“I reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for a full humanitarian ceasefire, for the benefit of the people of Gaza, Israel, and the wider region,” he added.
Blinken to travel to Israel, Dubai and West Bank
After he travels to Brussels for the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel, the occupied West Bank and Dubai this week, a senior administration official said.
In his meetings in the Middle East, Blinken is expected to stress the need to sustain the increased flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, secure the release of all hostages and improve protections for civilians in Gaza, the official said.
He will also discuss the principles he laid out in Tokyo for the future of Gaza and the need to establish an independent Palestinian state, according to the official.
At a news conference in Tokyo earlier this month, Blinken said a future Gaza “must include Palestinian-led governance.” He also said there must be “a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side and states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity.”
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