World
Slain Hamas hostage's family fights for the release of those still in Gaza

Oded Lifshitz was 83 years old when he was ripped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife, Yocheved, during Hamas’ attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Yocheved returned to Israel alive in October 2023 and has been advocating for other hostages’ release ever since. On Feb. 20, 2025, Oded returned to Israel in a coffin. His family, however, has not given up hope for those who remain in Gaza.
Daniel Lifshitz, Oded and Yocheved’s grandson, told Fox News Digital that, while the hostages who have returned have brought some light back to Kibbutz Nir Oz, nothing can really be done until all the hostages are back. As of the time of this writing, 13 hostages taken from Nir Oz are still in Gaza, and not all of them are alive.
Daniel Lifshitz speaks about his grandfather during the funeral for Oded Lifshitz on Feb. 25, 2025 in Nir Oz, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
OPINION: YOU FREED ME FROM HAMAS, PRESIDENT TRUMP. PLEASE SAVE MY BROTHER, TOO
When speaking to Fox News Digital, Daniel described his late grandfather as a “warrior of peace,” explaining that while Oded served in four wars, he also fought for the rights of minorities.
Oded and Yocheved were peace activists who helped Palestinian pediatric cancer patients from Gaza cross into Israel for chemotherapy. In the eulogy she delivered at her husband’s funeral, Yocheved discussed their activism and said they “were hit by a terrible attack by those we helped on the other side,” according to the Times of Israel’s translation.
Daniel explained that his grandmother felt betrayed not by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but by Palestinian civilians who she and her husband had spent years helping.
“After October 7, they didn’t — we didn’t see the Palestinians going to protest outside against Hamas, going to protests for the release of the hostages, which they know if they would release all the hostage is that will be also the end of the war,” Daniel told Fox News Digital. “And they need to show that they don’t want Hamas, and that is where my grandmother she feels really great betrayal because it’s for whom we try.”

Pictures of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz, 84, who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and then killed, are displayed next to candles in the dining room in Kibbutz Nir Oz, after their bodies were handed over to Israel under the terms of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, on the day of Lifshitz’s funeral, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel Feb. 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR SLAMS HAMAS’ ‘EVIL AND DEPRAVED’ DISPLAY OF HOSTAGES’ COFFINS
Oded’s body was returned alongside those of Ariel and Kfir Bibas. The boys’ mother, Shiri Bibas, was supposed to be in the fourth coffin, but her remains were not there when the coffin arrived in Israel. Her body was returned two days later.
“… their return together is symbolizing the failure of the international community for me because in those cars came a 9-month-old baby, the only baby held hostage in the world with an 83-year-old great-grandfather, the only great-grandfather health hostage world,” Daniel told Fox News Digital.

Daniel Lifshitz walks holding his grandmother’s released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz’s hand, during the “International Rally – United We Bring Them Home” rally in Hostage Square on May 18th, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Daniel grew up with Shiri’s sister, Dana, who told Fox News Digital that she is like a sister to him.
When asked about the differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration’s handling of the situation, Daniel told Fox News Digital that Trump’s team is “more creative.”
“If one thing doesn’t work, they don’t continue. They try to bring another solution,” Daniel told Fox News Digital.
In the face of tragedy, the Lifshitz family has refused to give up hope that the remaining hostages, alive and dead, will one day return home to Israel. Daniel also hopes his grandmother will be able to get some rest once she knows the hostages are home.

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Crews restore power to nearly all customers after island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico

Power was restored to more than 98% of customers Friday after an island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico earlier this week, authorities said.
More than 1.45 million customers had electricity less than 48 hours after the outage hit, according to Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power on the island.
PUERTO RICO NO LONGER SAFE BET FOR ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AS TRUMP CRACKDOWN EXPANDS TO US TERRITORY
Luma warned that “some customers may continue to experience temporary outages due to limited generation.”
Gov. Jenniffer González said that all those affected by the blackout had power restored, and that the more than 21,400 customers without electricity on Friday was a result of other unidentified issues.
Nurys Perez moves a generator into place to power her beauty salon during a blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
“Obviously, Luma still has work to do,” she said. “It is a shame for our people … that we have such an insufficient, mediocre system.”
Normally, a couple thousand customers are temporarily without power every week in Puerto Rico for various reasons.
González noted that more than 98% of customers also had water.
“We have overcome, thank God, a great crisis this week,” she said.
The blackout that hit Wednesday afternoon occurred after a transmission line failed and then caused generators across the island to protectively shut down, officials have said. It also left more than 400,000 customers without water at the time.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the failure, although authorities are investigating whether a series of breakers failed or if overgrown vegetation is to blame.
González said she expected to receive a preliminary report in upcoming days.
It’s the second massive blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months. The previous one happened on New Year’s Eve.
World
Iran seeks Russian support ahead of nuclear deal talks with US

Iran is seeking support from Russia over a possible deal with the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, ahead of a second round of talks this weekend in Rome.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he briefed his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, about the first round of talks in Oman last week.
He praised Russia’s role in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that led to lifting of sanctions in return for Tehran’s cap on its nuclear activities.
“We are hopeful and we expect Russia to continue its supportive role in any new agreement,” Araghchi said in a joint news conference with Lavrov in Moscow.
The 2015 nuclear deal collapsed with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018, while Iran abandoned all limits on its nuclear activities and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity, near the weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Lavrov said Russia was ready to mediate and assist in the nuclear talks.
“We are ready to help, mediate and play any role that, from Iran’s point of view, will be useful and that will be acceptable to the United States,” Lavrov said.
“We proceed from the fact that the only option for an agreement, as the (Iranian) minister just said, is an agreement exclusively on nuclear issues.”
Lavrov said Araghchi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in talks that “emphasised the unprecedented dynamics of (the) political dialogue” between Moscow and Tehran.
He did not give details, beyond saying Putin was “very pleased” with the talks.
Araghchi said he gave Putin a message from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has a final say on all state matters in Iran but gave no further details.
In Paris, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed the hope that talks with Iran would be “fruitful and that they can lead to something. We would all prefer a peaceful resolution and a lasting one.”
Rubio met with British, French and German officials and pressed them to maintain sanctions on Iran instead of allowing them to expire.
“We should all anticipate, based on the public comments yesterday, that they’re about to get a report from the IAEA that says not just is Iran out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they’ve ever been,” Rubio said.
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