Israeli soldier wounded whilst freeing kibbutz wants to return to frontline

Published

2 years ago

October 22, 2023

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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.

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.”

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.

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.

“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.”

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Explained: The land Ukraine could be forced to give up – and will Russia have to concede anything?

Published

5 hours ago

August 12, 2025

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Explained: The land Ukraine could be forced to give up - and will Russia have to concede anything?

Any agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin when they meet on Friday could leave Ukraine in an impossible position after three years of brutal, grinding war for survival.

There has been speculation the two leaders could agree a so-called ‘land for peace’ deal which could see Ukraine instructed to give up territory in exchange for an end to the fighting.

That would effectively be an annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory by Russia by force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening that Mr Putin wants the rest of Donetsk – and in effect the entire eastern Donbas region – as part of a ceasefire plan.

But the Ukrainian leader said Kyiv would reject the proposal and explained that such a move would deprive them of defensive lines and open the way for Moscow to conduct further offensives.

Russia currently occupies around 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea and the parts of the Donbas region it seized prior to the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

President Trump has said he hopes to get “prime territory” back for Ukraine, though it’s uncertain what President Putin would agree to.

In this story, Sky News speaks to experts about what the highly-anticipated meeting between the Russian and American presidents could mean for the battlefield.

A ceasefire along the frontline?

The range of outcomes for the Trump-Putin meeting is broad, with anything from no progress to a ceasefire possible.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for instance, said this week that he has “many fears and a lot of hope” for what could come out of it.

Military analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News that the summit “certainly won’t create peace, but it might create a ceasefire in place if Putin decides to be flexible”.

“So far he hasn’t shown any flexibility at all,” he added.

A ceasefire along the frontline, with minimal withdrawals on both sides, would be “structurally changing” and an “astonishing outcome”, he said.

However he doubts this will happen. Mr Clarke said a favourable outcome could be the two sides agreeing to a ceasefire that would start in two weeks time (for instance) with threats of sanctions from the US if Russia or Ukraine breaks it.

Will Ukraine be forced to give up territory to Russia?

While President Trump’s attitude to Ukrainian resistance appears possibly more favourable from his recent comments, it’s still possible that Kyiv could be asked to give up territory as part of any agreement with Russia.

Moscow has been focussed on four oblasts (regions) of Ukraine: Luhansk and Donetsk (the Donbas), Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

President Putin’s forces control almost all of Luhansk, but about 30% of the others remain in Ukrainian hands and are fiercely contested.

“Russian rates of advance have picked up in the last month, but even though they are making ground, it would still take years (three or more) at current rates to capture all this territory,” Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the RUSI thinktank, told Sky News.

He says it “wouldn’t be surprising” if Russia tried to acquire the rest of the Donbas as part of negotiations – something that is “highly unattractive” for Ukraine that could leave them vulnerable in future.

This would include surrendering some of the ‘fortress belt’ – a network of four settlements including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – that has held back Russian forces for 11 years.

Michael Clarke said this might well satisfy President Putin “for now”, but many believe that he would return for the rest of Ukraine – possibly after President Trump leaves office.

It’s unclear if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could accept such a painful concession – or indeed, survive it politically – or if the wider Ukrainian public would support it in return for a pause in the fighting.

Would Russia have to return any territory to Ukraine?

The White House appears to have been briefing that it might, though the situation is very unclear.

Mr Savill added: “The Ukrainians might want to even up the situation in the north, by removing Russian incursions into Sumy and near Kharkiv, but of greater importance would be getting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant back under Ukrainian control, given how much it would contribute to Ukrainian power needs.”

It’s also possible that Russia could be willing to withdraw from the areas of Kherson region that it controls.

It’s “plausible” they could get the power plant back, Mr Clarke said, but Russia would likely insist on maintaining access to Crimea by land.

This would mean that cities Mariupol and Melitopol – would remain in Russian hands, with all that that entails for the people living there.

World

What are West Bank settlements, who are settlers, and why are they controversial?

Published

20 hours ago

August 12, 2025

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What are West Bank settlements, who are settlers, and why are they controversial?

There are increasing reports of violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory.

Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has been inside the West Bank, where he’s found settlers feeling emboldened since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

With the government largely supporting them, they act with impunity and are in many ways enabled by Israel security forces.

But what are the settlements, and why are they controversial?

What are settlements?

A settlement is an Israeli-built village, town, or city in occupied Palestinian territory – either in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

The largest, Modi’in Illit, is thought to house around 82,000 settlers, according to Peace Now.

There is also a growing movement of Israelis wanting to build settlements in Gaza.

Settlements are illegal under international law and have been condemned by the UN. They are, however, authorised by the Israeli government.

As well as official, government-approved settlements, there are also Israeli outposts.

These are established without government approval and are considered illegal by Israeli authorities. But reports suggest the government often turns a blind eye to their creation.

Israel began building settlements shortly after the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Etzion Bloc in Hebron, which was established that year, now houses around 40,000 people.

According to the Israel Policy Forum, the settlement programme is intended to protect Israel’s security, with settlers acting as the first line of defence “against an invasion”.

The Israeli public appears divided on the effectiveness of the settlements, however.

A 2024 Pew Research Centre poll found that 40% of Israelis believe settlements help Israeli security, 35% say they hurt it, and 21% think they make no difference.

Why are they controversial?

Israeli settlements are built on land that is internationally recognised as Palestinian territory.

Sky News has spoken to multiple Palestinians who say they were forced out of their homes by Israeli settlers, despite having lived there for generations.

“They gradually invade the community and expand. The goal is to terrorise people, to make them flee,” Rachel Abramovitz, a member of the group Looking The Occupation In The Eye, told Sky News in May.

Settlers who have spoken to Sky News say they have a holy right to occupy the land.

American-born Israeli settler Daniel Winston told Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay: “God’s real, and he wrote the Bible, and the Bible says, ‘I made this land, and I want you to be here’.”

Settlers make up around 5% of Israel’s population and 15% of the West Bank’s population, according to data from Peace Now.

How have things escalated since 7 October 2023?

Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent military bombardment of Gaza, more than 100 Israeli outposts have been established, according to Peace Now.

In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved 22 new settlements, including the legalisation of outposts that had previously been built without authorisation.

Settler violence against Palestinians has also increased, according to the UN, with an average of 118 incidents each month – up from 108 in 2023, which was already a record year.

The UK government has sanctioned two members of Mr Netanyahu’s cabinet, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian civilians” – notably in the West Bank.

The UN’s latest report on Israeli settlements notes that in October 2024, there were 162 settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters, many of them in the presence of IDF soldiers.

Of the 174 settler violence incidents studied by the UN, 109 were not reported to Israeli authorities.

Most Palestinian victims said they didn’t report the attacks due to a lack of trust in the Israeli system; some said they feared retaliation by settlers or the authorities if they did.

World

‘There is no more time’: Madonna urges the Pope to go to Gaza

Published

22 hours ago

August 12, 2025

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'There is no more time': Madonna urges the Pope to go to Gaza

Madonna has urged the Pope to go to Gaza and “bring your light” to the children there.

In a plea shared across her social media channels, the pop star told the pontiff he is “the only one of us who cannot be denied entry” and that “there is no more time”.

“Politics cannot affect change,” wrote the queen of pop, who was raised Catholic.

“Only consciousness can. Therefore I am reaching out to a Man of God.”

The Like A Prayer singer told her social media followers her son Rocco’s birthday prompted her post.

“I feel the best gift I can give to him as a mother – is to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza.

“I am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides. Everyone is suffering. Including the mothers of the hostages. I pray that they are released as well.”

Pope Leo has been outspoken about the crisis in Gaza since his inauguration, calling for an end to the “barbarity of war”.

“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said in July.

WHO chief thanks Madonna

Every child under the age of five in Gaza is now at risk of acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF – “a condition that didn’t exist in Gaza just 20 months ago”.

At the end of May, the NGO reported that more than 50,000 children had been killed or injured since October 2023.

World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Madonna for her post, saying: “humanity and peace must prevail”.

“Thank you, Madonna, for your compassion, solidarity and commitment to care for everyone caught in the Gaza crisis, especially the children. This is greatly needed,” he wrote on X.

Sky News has approached the Vatican for comment.