World
How Israel's daring hostage rescue mission unfolded: 'A surgical operation'
New details about Israel’s bold rescue of four hostages are coming to light with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) describing the daytime operation as a “high-risk, complex mission” that was “surgical” in its precision.
The mission was planned for weeks using “precise intelligence” and took place at around 11 a.m. local time in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza, according to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari of the IDF.
Officers of the National Police special anti-terror unit of Yamam along with Shin Bet agents simultaneously raided two Hamas buildings to pluck the three male hostages and one female hostage to safety. The soldiers had been undergoing intense training for weeks in preparation for the rescue mission, Hagari said.
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Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Shlomi Ziv, 41, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, were rescued in two separate locations in a complex daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza. (IDF)
Noa Argamani, 26, was rescued at one site, while Almog Meir Jan, 22, Shlomi Ziv, 41, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, were taken from the second location. Argamani has been one of the most widely recognized hostages since video of her abduction was among the first to surface. She can be seen in the video between two men on a motorcycle with one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams “Don’t kill me!”
Dramatic aerial footage from this morning’s rescue shows Meir Jan, Kozlov and Ziv running with Israeli forces to a waiting helicopter before the chopper takes off to bring them to safety.
During the operation, Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, 36, an officer in the special anti-terror unit of Yamam, was critically injured and later died from his injuries. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
Under 100 Palestinians were killed in the raid, Hagari said.
Hagari said Hamas has been holding hostages inside civilian buildings, and Israeli intelligence was able to pinpoint two of these buildings in Nuseirat where families were staying with armed guards inside.
Video: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu meets rescued hostages
The buildings were about 650 feet apart, and Israeli forces decided to move on both buildings at the same time because they feared Hamas might kill hostages in one of the buildings if they saw the other coming under attack.
“This is a huge risk because they might have thought that we were preparing for another raid,” Hagari said. “You have to understand that they’re moving the hostages from flat to flat.”
Hagari said the decision to carry out the mission during the day was also to bring about an element of surprise because Hamas would not have been expecting it.
Noa Argaman hugging her father, left; Andrey Kozlov, top right, leaving a helicopter; and military leaders planning the operation, bottom right. (IDF)
“In the daytime, you take more risks to make sure the surprise element is kept, and we understood that inside the flats it would give us leverage,” Hagari said. “We surprised them completely, but it was still hard,” he said.
The command to go was given at 11 a.m. and, 25 minutes later, the raid started, he said.
Israeli forces exchanged gunfire with the guards in the building with the three male hostages. In the crossfire, Zmora was injured and then later died at a hospital, Hagari said.
“He is a warrior that gave his life for bringing home four hostages alive,” Hagari said of Zmora.
As soldiers left the building, they were also met with gunfire and RPG fire, leading to their vehicle being stuck. Other forces came to their rescue and helped them flee.
The hostages were then taken to two helicopters with the second of those helicopters taking the three hostages and Zmora.
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant approves the operation to rescue the hostages together with IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Head of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva and Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Alon. (Ariel Hermoni/IMoD)
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Hagari said the command room where the mission was being directed was tense while it took “hundreds of warriors” in the surrounding area to carry out the operation.
“This is a surgical operation, like a brain operation; it has to be so accurate. Imagine that on a civilian street with a lot of people around with trucks and cars,” Hagari said.
Hagari said under 100 Palestinian casualties were reported, and he wasn’t sure how many of them were terrorists.
Almog Jan Meir reunited with his family (IDF)
“But they were using the civilians to embed them with the hostages. They were using the civilians to fire on the Israeli forces when they went out. And from the operation at this level, so many fires was a lot of force. We needed to fire from the air and from the street,” Hagari said.
“And some of the casualties were terrorists in the [prepared] targets that we had, and the Air Force conducted the fire during the operation.”
To prepare for the mission, Hagari said Israeli forces had built models of the buildings to practice the raid and gathered intelligence in “multiple ways” to ensure the operation would be successful.
“We have tried in the past, but in the end did not execute because we understood we didn’t have the right conditions, the right leverage,” Hagari said.
“In the past, we conducted in-field operations more than three or four times. Forces from special units were waiting to raid an apartment, but we did not execute that because we understood that we didn’t have this leverage. This type of operation has a lot of details, like in a puzzle.
Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora was killed during the raid. (IDF)
“We need to make sure — and we never have all the links — that we have enough links to ensure that.”
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant described the mission as one of the “most heroic and extraordinary operations” he had witnessed over the course of his 47 years serving in Israel’s defense establishment.
“Our troops showed so much courage operating under heavy fire in the most complex [urban environment in Gaza],” Gallant said.
“I do not remember having completed operations of this kind at this intensity and with this level of cooperation and success.”
Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
World
Armed man shot and killed after entering secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service says
WASHINGTON (AP) — An armed man drove into the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, as another vehicle was exiting before being shot and killed early Sunday morning, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service.
The man, who was in his early 20s and from North Carolina, had a gas can and a shotgun, according to Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman. He had been reported missing by his family a few days ago, and investigators believe he headed south and picked up the shotgun along the way.
Guglielmi said a box for the weapon was discovered in the man’s vehicle after the incident, which took place around 1:30 a.m.
The man killed was identified by investigators as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.
Trump has faced threats to his life before, including two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign. Although the president often spends weekends at his resort, he and first lady Melania Trump were at the White House when the breach at Mar-a-Lago occurred.
After entering near the north gate of the property, the man was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them. At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said at a brief press conference. The two agents and the deputy “fired their weapons to neutralize the threat.”
The FBI asked residents who live near Mar-a-Lago to check any security cameras they may have for footage that could help investigators.
Investigators are working to compile a psychological profile and a motive is still under investigation. Asked whether the individual was known to law enforcement, Bradshaw said “not right now.”
The incident comes as the United States has been rocked by spasms political violence.
The incursion at Mar-a-Lago took place a few miles from Trump’s West Palm Beach club where a man tried to assassinate him while he played golf during the 2024 campaign.
A Secret Service agent spotted that man, Ryan Routh, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery before Trump came into view. Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire and caused Routh to drop his weapon.
Routh was found guilty last year and sentenced this month to life in prison.
Trump also survived an assassination attempt at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally. That gunman fired eight shots before being killed by a Secret Service counter sniper.
The White House referred all questions to the Secret Service and FBI.
There have been other recent incidents of political violence as well.
In the last year, there was the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk; the assassination of the Democratic leader in the Minnesota state House and her husband and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife; and an arson attack at the official residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Five days ago, a Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested as he sprinted towards the west side of the U.S. Capitol.
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AP reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this story.
World
Hungary threatens to block EU loan to Ukraine unless Russian oil shipments resume
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Hungary is threatening to block a proposed 90 billion-euro European Union loan to Ukraine — worth roughly $106 billion — unless oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline are restored.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote Friday on X that Hungary would oppose the EU funding package until oil transit via the Russian-linked Druzhba pipeline resumes.
“Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary by halting oil transit in coordination with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition to create supply disruptions in Hungary and push fuel prices higher before the elections,” Szijjártó said.
He further claimed that blocking oil transit violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and breaches Kyiv’s commitments to the European Union.
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Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto speaks during a session of Russian Energy Week in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 15, 2025. (Ramil Sitdikov/Reuters)
The Druzhba pipeline has long been a key route for Russian oil deliveries to parts of Central Europe, including Hungary, even as much of the EU has moved to curb reliance on Russian energy following Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The European Commission in January adopted a legislative package to implement a previously agreed 90 billion-euro loan to Ukraine for 2026 and 2027, aimed at supporting the country’s budgetary and military needs, according to a press release.
The financial commitment, known as the “Ukraine Support Loan,” would be structured as a limited recourse loan, with roughly 60 billion euros allocated for military assistance and 30 billion designated for general budget support.
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A general view of Hungarian oil company MOL’s Duna Refinery near Szazhalombatta, about 30 kilometers south of Budapest, on May 5, 2022. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)
The Commission said the funding is intended to help Ukraine maintain essential state functions, bolster its defense capabilities and strengthen resilience as the war with Russia continues.
The loan would be financed through common EU borrowing on capital markets and guaranteed by the EU budget. The Commission also noted that the EU reserves the right to use immobilized Russian assets within the bloc, in accordance with EU and international law, to repay the loan.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday rejected what it called “ultimatums and blackmail” from the governments of Hungary and Slovakia over energy supplies, accusing both countries of taking actions that are “provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region.”
The Druzhba oil pipeline between Hungary and Russia at the MOL Group’s Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, on May 18, 2022. (Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)
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“Ukraine is in constant contact with representatives of the European Commission regarding the damage to Ukrainian energy infrastructure caused by daily Russian strikes. We have also provided information about the consequences of these Russian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure to the governments of Hungary and Slovakia,” the ministry said in a statement. “Security and stabilization repair work continues amid daily threats of new missile attacks. Ukraine has also proposed alternative ways to resolve the issue of supplying non-Russian oil to these countries.”
It added that Ukraine remains a “reliable energy partner” to the European Union and argued that “ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
World
Small but mighty: Colombia’s Muslim community celebrates Ramadan
Medellin, Colombia – Ziauddin Yahya Iqbal Sandoval, known to his friends as Zia, observes Ramadan with quiet conviction.
The 14-year-old was born and raised in Colombia, where Christianity remains dominant. Nearly 63 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.
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But Zia is one of an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 Muslims in Colombia, comprising less than 0.2 percent of the country’s population.
Within that community, though, is a prism of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Some of Colombia’s Muslims reflect a rich history of migration to the region. Others are converts.
“The Colombian Islamic community is a small one but enjoys more on account of its diversity,” Zia said, as he took a break from serving tea in his uncle Zaheer’s restaurant in the upscale Poblado neighbourhood of Medellin.
On the eve of Ramadan, Muslim communities in cities like Bogota and Medellin prepared for the coming festivities with decorations and prayer.
Golden, glittering letters spelled out wishes for “Ramadan Karim” — or a “generous Ramadan” — above a modest mosque in Belen, on the outskirts of Medellin.
Inside, shoes were lined neatly along the wall. In a small, square prayer room, about eight men of different ages and nationalities stood shoulder to shoulder, bowing in unison.
“The majority of those who come to the mosque are Colombians, but we see people from Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Pakistan and other Arab countries,” said Mu’tasem Abdo, the mosque’s imam who came to Medellin from Egypt four years ago.
He explained how, because Colombia’s Muslim community is relatively small, newcomers sometimes find themselves aching for the festive experience they remember from home.
“A native from a Muslim country can miss the grandeur of Ramadan as experienced back home,” Abdo explained.
Pakistani immigrant Rana Arif Mohammad remembers arriving in Colombia 23 years ago with dreams of adventuring through Latin America. But he too felt isolation as a Muslim in the country.
He settled in Medellin and founded a restaurant where he serves Pakistani and Arabic specialities in his Belen restaurant. But fellow Muslims were few and far between, and he remembers struggling to find a mosque.
“Twenty-three years ago, I met just four to five Muslims, just a few from Lebanon and Turkiye,” Mohammad said.
But Mohammad and others have observed Muslim visibility on the rise in Colombia.
In 2020, for instance, Colombia elected its first Muslim mayor in the border city of Maicao. And Mohammad explained that there are now more Islamic cultural centres and places of worship.
“Today, Medellin has five mosques,” he said, counting the ones he knows.
The Muslim population in Latin America first surged after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. There have been several waves of migration in the century since.
In Colombia, one of the most significant came during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s. The conflict triggered an exodus of nearly one million Lebanese people that included many Muslims and Christians.
Some settled in cities like Maicao, where one of the largest mosques in Latin America was built and completed in 1997.
The continued migration into Colombia has contributed to the diversity of its Muslim community.
In Bogota, Sheikh Ahmad Qurtubi speaks proudly of the range of nationalities in his jamaat, or congregation, at the Qurtubi Islamic Centre in the west of the city.
“There are people of different nationalities, approximately 10 or 15 different countries, and we find great diversity in this centre,” Qurtubi explained after delivering the Taraweeh prayer marking the first night of Ramadan.
Though there are no official statistics on the origins of Colombia’s Muslim population, Qurtubi has noticed an increase in Muslim converts.
He estimates that roughly 100 to 200 worshippers in his jamaat are new to the religion. It can be a struggle, though, to build a sense of cohesion, given the different backgrounds of the worshippers.
“The biggest challenge in Colombia is maintaining a stable community that has an impact on society and a common identity,” he said.
“In a community where most people have converted due to different circumstances that led them to Islam, it can be a little more complicated to achieve.”
But Qurtubi said the diversity of his congregation has led to celebrations that embrace the spectrum of Colombia’s Muslim identity.
He described how, on each night of Ramadan, a different family volunteers to cook food for the Iftar, the breaking of the fast.
“The food options can be very varied. Why? Because it depends on each person’s culture and background,” he explained. “For example, I can offer Moroccan food, one person can offer Pakistani food, others Colombian food.”
He believes community events like Ramadan create an opportunity for Colombia’s Muslims to embrace their differences and build communal understanding.
“Knowledge is what allows a community to grow, to flourish … and to have the opportunity to prosper and put down roots here in Colombia,” he said.
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