He said in a November 2023 interview: “I hold up the stick with the sunflower as high as I can, feeling like I’m reaching the sky. Then suddenly I think of Mapal – and I start crying, crying my heart out.
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“As I cry harder, I feel like Mapal is reaching out her hand from the heavens.”
A number of other survivors of the massacre have taken their own lives, with some families blaming the Israeli government for not doing enough for their welfare in the weeks and months after the attack in 2023.
The news of his death comes as Israel prepares to welcome home the final 20 living hostages still held captive by Hamas, followed by the bodies of 28 others.
The handover is said to be scheduled for Monday (Tuesday AEDT).
US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in the country on Monday to accept the plaudits of politicians and hostage families for brokering the deal.
However, as of Saturday morning, there still appeared to be disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in return for the hostages.
Huge preparations are taking place for Trump’s visit, with his armoured motorcade flying into Israel from the Ramstein US base in Germany.
The US is also deploying 200 Centcom military personnel to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, including Hamas’s disarmament, although not to the Strip itself.
The withdrawal from urban areas of Israeli troops, which was completed by midday on Friday, has allowed Hamas to re-establish control of the population in Gaza’s cities.
There were reports on Saturday that the terror group had launched a wave of arrests of alleged “collaborators” with Israel in Gaza City, ahead of summary executions.
“Our forces are working to restore order,” a Hamas spokesman was reported as saying on a social media channel affiliated with the group.
At the same time, members of Hamas internal security were photographed at major junctions, the first time they have been seen above ground since the January-February ceasefire.
The group also claimed to have killed members of an anti-Hamas militia near Jabalia, north of Gaza City.
However, there were suggestions of reprisals amid the power vacuum, with a senior al-Qassam Brigade commander, Muhammad Imad Aql, found murdered.
Sources claimed on Saturday that Hamas is still pushing for the release of Marwan Barghouti, who is serving a life sentence for terrorism.Credit: AP
It came as thousands of refugees streamed back to their homes, despite many neighbourhoods being mostly or totally destroyed.
Sources claimed on Saturday that Hamas is still pushing for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a symbolic figure of Palestinian armed resistance to Israel who is currently serving a life sentence for terrorism.
Another major name reportedly being pressed for is Ahmad Saadat, head of the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who has been held in prison since 2002.
Israel’s government last week stated that Barghouti, known as the Palestinian “Mandella” would not be released.
Israel is also reportedly rejecting the release of senior Palestinian health officials captured in Gaza, whom they accuse of working for Hamas.
Little detail has yet emerged about the mechanism for disarming or the international stabilisation force supposed to guarantee security in the Strip.
A Hamas source said it rejected any “foreign guardianship” of the enclave, even though this is what is implied by transitional authority included in the Trump plan for peace.
The Telegraph, London
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