Israeli soldier wounded whilst freeing kibbutz wants to return to frontline
Hands pulling the wheels on his wheelchair, a young Israeli soldier led the way into his hospital bedroom, both legs patched up after surgery for three gunshot wounds.
The reservist, a member of an elite unit called the counter-terror school, was wounded as he helped to recapture a rural community near Gaza that had been overrun by Hamas militants.
Two weeks into his recovery, the soldier, who asked to go by the initial “D”, said he hopes to be able to return to the frontline in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Follow live: First aid trucks enter Gaza as border crossing with Egypt opens
“Hell yeah,” the 22-year-old said, showing how he is already trying to stand up despite a particularly serious wound to the back of his left leg.
Soldier D
The soldier is being treated at a sprawling hospital complex on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
In the past few days, doctors at a rehabilitation department inside the Sheba facility have expanded almost two-fold their capacity to rehabilitate wounded soldiers in anticipation of demand rising because of the war.
Professor Israel Dudkiewicz, chairman of the rehabilitation division at the Sheba Medical Centre, said the injuries that are already being treated are from bullets, shrapnel and bombs.
Asked whether the hospital would be able to handle an influx of wounded troops should Israel launch a ground invasion into Gaza, he said: “The answer is yes. We’re going to deal with how many that we need, for how long that we need. We know how to do it and we’re going to be here.”
Professor Israel Dudkiewicz said the hospital is expanding to cope with the increase in patients from the war
Hardest part was ‘thinking twice before you pull the trigger’
Soldier D recalled what happened to him when he responded to an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October that killed more than 1,400 people, mainly civilians.
A reservist, he said he grabbed his uniform, body armour and weapons as news first broke about the carnage that was unfolding against communities that sit close to the Gaza Strip.
Soldier D assembled with other troops at a base before receiving the order to move towards a kibbutz called Be’eri that had been overrun.
By this point it was around 7pm in the evening – more than 12 hours after the attack began.
His commander told the men they needed to be ready for “harsh views” as they prepared to enter the site – now known to have been the location of one of the worst killings by Hamas.
“I looked straight and could see burning buildings, destroyed buildings, a lot of dead corpses – most of them were children and women,” said Soldier D.
Soldier D
With the militants still at large, his unit was ordered to try to find civilians who might still be hiding inside the small stone houses that made up the community of around 1,000 residents.
The soldier said he was warned some of the attackers might be dressed in Israeli security uniforms or civilian clothing, making them hard to distinguish.
The unit also had to be careful not to open fire on other Israeli forces involved in the rescue.
“You had to think twice before you pull the trigger. That was the hardest part,” he said.
Approaching a house that had flames coming out of the roof, the soldier peered in through a window to look for occupants.
He said he could make out a couple in their late 50s or early 60s. They looked to be in shock and unaware that their house was burning.
He asked the women if there were any attackers inside.
“She only answered to me with: ‘Water. I need water to drink’.”
He decided to climb through the window to help them.
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On board of Israeli patrol vessels that look for attempts by Hamas to attack from the water
“They both look at me, terrified, the faces are black, dry eyes, red eyes, dry voice, heavily damaged, people, damaged clothes,” the soldier said.
He helped to hoist them out of the window to safety as the fire still raged above.
“When I heard some heavy cracking, I took [the man], put half of his body alone to the window. My commanding officer took him and I took five or six steps backward, sprinted to the window and got outside safely. Almost fell on my face. But that’s okay…Twenty seconds, 30 seconds, maybe 40, the building started collapsing inside.”
‘I didn’t feel any pain’ – at first
In total, his unit managed to save seven civilians.
They were then instructed to search houses to hunt for Hamas fighters who might be hiding. That was when Soldier D was shot. A number of his colleagues were also shot and his commander was killed.
“I got three bullet holes – two in my left leg, in my calves. The third shot was on my right leg,” Soldier D said.
“I didn’t feel any pain [immediately]. I felt that my legs were really wet and I felt like my body weight and my plate armour and everything I had on was pushing me downwards.”
He somehow managed to run to colleagues further back, giving them his tourniquets and asking for help. He said he spoke very calmy as he did not want to cause alarm.
“They didn’t see me yelling or even panicking. And I started singing and even laughing at it. It’s just to keep the morale up.”
Once in the privacy of an ambulance he allowed his composure to slip – briefly.
“We started driving and that’s when I started yelling, touching everything, and that’s when the pain really kicked in. When the damage started talking.”
A fortnight later, though, Soldier D is smiling once more.
He said he is determined to make a full recovery, drawing on a homemade motto: “Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.”
At least four people have been killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after a series of Russian attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described one of the attacks as a “savage killing”, saying dozens of people had been injured.
It comes after Kyiv embarrassed Moscow when it launched a daring drone raid deep inside Russia last weekend, destroying dozens of bombers.
Firefighters work at the site of a building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, attempted US-led peace talks between the two appear to be floundering.
During the attacks on Saturday, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said: “Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack in the entire time of the full-scale war.”
The first wave of the Russian strike was a large drone-and-missile attack in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Nightly attacks from Moscow have become a routine part of the conflict.
At least three people died and 21 others were injured. There are reports that some people remain trapped underneath the rubble.
Then, in the afternoon, Russia dropped aerial bombs on the city centre, killing at least one person and wounding more.
Ukraine and Russia also accused one another of trying to sabotage a planned prisoner exchange.
A woman was freed from debris in Kharkiv. Pic: Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova
Residents reckon with Russian strikes
As emergency workers fought fires at the attack sites in Kharkiv, residents had to deal with the fallout of strikes that could have claimed their lives.
Alina Belous tried to extinguish flames with buckets of water to rescue a young girl trapped inside a burning building, as she called out for help.
“We were trying to put it out ourselves with our buckets, together with our neighbours,” she said.
“Then the rescuers arrived and started helping us put out the fire, but there was smoke and they worried that we couldn’t stay there.
“When the ceiling started falling off, they took us out.”
A man is taken away by paramedics in Kharkiv. Pic: Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova
An apartment building hit by Russia’s attack on Kharkiv. Pic: Reuters/Vitalii Hnidyi
Vadym Ihnachenko said he initially thought it was a neighbouring building going up in flames – not his own.
He was forced to flee after seeing smoke coming from his building’s roof.
Diplomatic efforts stall
Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said.
Russia acknowledged the attacks, but not the deaths, saying it had targeted military sites, while pictures show apartment blocks on fire.
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Rescuers carry the injured after the first wave of Russia’s attack. Pic: Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova
The regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said children were among those injured in the first attack.
While a US-led diplomatic push for peace has led to two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, they delivered no significant breakthroughs.
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Later on Saturday, Russia and Ukraine also accused each other of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action.
This had been agreed during peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday.
Elon Musk’s social media post claiming Donald Trump is in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has been removed.
The tech billionaire made the allegation on X as he traded blows with the US president in a dramatic public row.
In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
“Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House – with the post disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday.
Users clicking on the message – first posted on Thursday – were instead greeted with: “Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.”
Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.
File pic: Reuters
JD Vance has his say
Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a “huge mistake” going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an “emotional guy” who got frustrated.
He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von – one of the “manosphere” influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election.
“I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” Mr Vance said.
He also claimed that such outbursts “happen to everyone”, adding: “I’ve flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.”
‘Big ugly spending bill’
Musk and Mr Trump’s relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee.
In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president’s signature tax and spending bill as a “big ugly spending bill”.
President Trump posted on Truth Social, saying Musk had been “wearing thin” and claimed he “asked him to leave” his government position – something Musk denied.
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Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” she said.
“The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
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The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value.
In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
He reportedly said: “You mean the man who has lost his mind?”
World
Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Man wrongly deported from US to El Salvador has been returned to face criminal charges
A man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration has been returned to the US to face criminal charges.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged in an indictment filed in federal court in Tennessee with conspiring to transport illegal immigrants into the US, attorney general Pam Bondi said on Friday.
Court records have shown the indictment was filed on 21 May, more than two months after he was deported from the US under a controversial 18th-century wartime law.
US attorney general Pam Bondi, alongside her deputy Todd Blanche, outlined the charges at a news conference. Pic: AP
In a statement, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Andrew Rossman said it would now be up to the US judicial system to ensure he received due process.
“Today’s action proves what we’ve known all along – that the administration had the ability to bring him back and just refused to do so,” he said.
Salvadoran Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported from Maryland despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order granting him protection after finding he was likely to be persecuted by local gangs if he was returned to his native country.
The indictment alleges Abrego Garcia worked with at least five co-conspirators to bring immigrants to the US illegally and transport them from the border to other destinations in the country.
On Friday, Ms Bondi outlined the charges at a news conference, saying: “The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.
“He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found – smuggling people throughout our country… MS-13 [international criminal gang] members, violent gang terrorist organisation members… throughout our country.
“He will be prosecuted in our country, sentenced in our country if convicted and then returned after completion of his sentence.”
Ms Bondi said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed to return Abrego Garcia to the US after American officials presented his government with an arrest warrant.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump says Musk has ‘lost his mind’
Israel warns of new Gaza operation
Chris Van Hollen (R) speaks to Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: Press Office Senator Van Hollen/AP
Democrat senator Chris Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador in April to meet Abrego Garcia, arguing his constitutional rights to due process were being ignored.
Critics of Donald Trump have pointed to the deportation of Abrego Garcia as an example of the excesses of the Republican president’s aggressive immigration policies.
US District Judge Paula Xinis has opened a probe into what, if anything, Mr Trump’s administration has done to secure his return, after his lawyers accused officials of stonewalling their requests for information.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura (R) filed a legal complaint over the deportation of her husband. Pic: AP
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Officials responded by alleging that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang – something his lawyers have strongly denied.
In a separate statement, Pam Bondi also attacked what she called the “Fake News Media” and repeated the – yet unproven – allegations against Abrego Garcia.
“The Justice Department’s Grand Jury Indictment against Abrego Garcia proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools.
“Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’- Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable.”
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