Israeli forces rescued four hostages alive from two locations in the central Gaza area of al-Nuseirat on Saturday, the military said, eight months after they were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants in a deadly incursion into Israel.

The four hostages, three males and one female who were abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7

They were identified as Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

Israel's chief military spokesman said the rescue operation was held under fire in the heart of a residential neighbourhood, where he said Hamas had been concealing hostages among Gaza civilians under the armed guard of militants.

Archive: https://archive.md/d4XCC

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released drone footage that it said showed armed "terrorists roaming and shooting" next to marked UN vehicles at the facility in eastern Rafah on Saturday.

She stressed that UN staff had evacuated the compound prior to Saturday, leaving behind some vehicles and food aid. She said under no circumstances should anyone have or use weapons in a UN facility.

A review commissioned by the UN said Israel had not provided evidence to back up the claim, but it found that Unrwa should improve its neutrality, staff vetting and transparency.

Archive: https://archive.md/xzpYP

Car rental prices might decrease over time as the rental getting closer to its due date.

I encountered it when booked a car rental, waited for about a month, cancelled and then re-booked again.

I rented from https://www.booking.com/cars

These are the rental prices over the months before the rental due date:

1. $547.73 (first price) - cancelled
2. $502.27 - cancelled
3. $475.10 - cancelled
4. $439.86 - final price

The Oct. 7 intelligence reports seen by the Journal identified an Unrwa Arabic teacher who the reports said was also a Hamas militant commander and took part in a terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were killed and about 26 people were kidnapped and taken as hostages to Gaza.

Another Unrwa employee, described in the dossier as an Unrwa social worker, played a role in absconding with the body of a dead Israeli soldier, which was taken to Gaza, the reports said. He also coordinated trucks and munitions distributions for Hamas before being killed.

A person familiar with the dossier said that after U.S. officials were briefed on the intelligence material, they alerted Unrwa, which put out a statement announcing the allegation that some of its employees were linked to the attacks and saying it had fired the employees involved. It provided no details, and didn’t say how many employees were involved.

A math teacher belonging to Hamas was close enough to a female hostage in Gaza that he took a picture of her. Another teacher was carrying an antitank missile the night before the invasion.

A different elementary school teacher did cross into Israel and went to Reim, a district where a kibbutz, an army base and a music festival were attacked.

Archive (including paywall bypass): https://archive.ph/5Y1Zt

Evidence Shows Widespread Support for October 7th Terrorists Among UNRWA Teachers in Gaza

This report details how UNRWA teachers in a 3,000-member UNRWA staff Telegram group cheered and celebrated Hamas’s October 7th massacre while at the same time asking when their UNRWA salaries will be paid.

The UNRWA staff in the group shared photos and video footage of those events and prayed for the terrorists’ success and for Israel’s destruction, in clear violation of UN rules.

This is the latest in a series of reports on UNRWA staff antisemitism and incitement to jihadi terrorism which our research proves is systemic and widespread.

Since 2015, UN Watch has exposed over 150 UNRWA staff Facebook pages that contain antisemitism and incitement to jihadi terrorism in blatant violation of UN neutrality.

The UNRWA Telegram group featured in this report completely eviscerates UNRWA’s denials and exposes the extent of UNRWA’s failure to do the bare minimum to address its staff’s neutrality violations.

Archive: https://archive.md/Zrfto

The United Nations on Friday fired 12 of its employees in Gaza and began an investigation into them after accusations by Israel that they had helped plan and had participated in the Oct. 7 terrorist assault that left about 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 240 others captured.

Archive (including paywall bypass): https://archive.ph/j9Syu

There were multiple tunnel off-shoots, with one of them leading us to a large room with a vaulted ceiling plastered white, walls colored with tiled walls and carpeted with artificial grass. The soldiers said they believed it was used to hold women and children hostages, showing us a child's drawing they said a 5-year-old hostage said they drew.

Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240122170841/https://abcnews.go.com/International/hamas-tunnel-complex-khan-younis-gaza-reporters-notebook/story?id=106513545

They found a holding area, five narrow rooms behind metal bars, toilets, mattresses, and even drawings by a child hostage who was freed during a November truce

Archive: https://archive.md/R8OLH

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to tour what IDF alleges are tunnels used by Hamas under Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240122165921/https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/01/11/idf-embed-tunnels-khan-younis-israel-hamas-robertson-ebof-vpx.cnn