Israel '100% accountable' for Shirel Golan's death by suicide, brother says
The brother of an Israeli woman who survived the Hamas-led attack on Israel a year ago only to die by suicide on her 22nd birthday blames government agencies that failed to treat her post-traumatic stress disorder.
Shirel Golan and her partner Adi were among thousands who fled the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im as militants began murdering and kidnapping the partygoers on Oct. 7, 2023. Her brother, Eyal Golan, says she was supposed to spend last Sunday celebrating with her family. Instead, her boyfriend found her dead in the garden at her parents' home in the central Israeli town of Porat.
"He ran outside shouting, "Why did you do this?! Why? Why? Why?" Eyal Golan told USA TODAY.
Shirel Golan was buried Monday at Tel Mond Cemetery, about 20 minutes north of Tel Aviv. Her brother says she died because the state social security and welfare agencies failed to help her.
"They are 100% accountable for my sister's death," said Golan, 36, who said he also has suffered from PTSD stemming from his military service in 2021. "When I am saying that the state, the country, killed my sister twice, my arrows are pointing at those two elements."
Golan fondly remembers Shirel as an infant, how he helped his parents change her diapers, feed her, play with her. He said with a laugh that when he had a daughter, Shirel became more interested in his family than him. That was before Hamas-led militants swarmed across the border into Israel, killing almost 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Nearly 400 of the deaths took place at the Nova music festival, where dozens were taken hostage. After the attack, his energetic, buoyant sister became withdrawn. The entire family worried about her and seldom left her alone for long, he said, adding that the government agencies provided little assistance.
"They have all the lists. They know everyone who is a survivor, who went to the festival, who is alive, who is dead, who was kidnapped, who was wounded like my sister, psychologically, and needs help,'' Golan said. "They didn't step up. They were passive. They didn't do any active measures to help."
Golan said he hopes his sister's death will spur the government agencies to be more proactive.
"PTSD is a problem not just in Israel," he said. "The problem is worldwide and we need to stand up."
'We know they were raped' in captivity: Chilling details of what hostages faced
Developments:
? Israel's retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage three weeks ago will likely only be a symbolic “limited attack,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari told the Iranian Student News Network. Israel has warned of a significant retaliation.
? Seven East Jerusalem residents have been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks in Israel, including the assassination of an Israeli nuclear scientist and a mayor in central Israel. The suspects are all ages 19 to 23 and were recruited by an Iranian agent, police said.
IDF says it killed heir apparent to slain Hezbollah leader
Israel has not only killed the leader of the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon but his heir apparent as well, the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday.
Hashem Safieddine, expected to succeed the slain Hassan Nasrallah, was "eliminated'' three weeks ago when the Israeli military hit Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters south of Beirut, the IDF said in a statement. It was the first confirmation of his death. The IDF said the strike also killed Hezbollah intelligence head Ali Hussein Hazima.
The assassinations are the Israeli military's latest achievements in a campaign to decapitate Hezbollah's leadership, claiming its top prize by killing Nasrallah in a Sept. 27 airstrike. Safieddine, a relative of Nasrallah's, had been appointed to Hezbollah's Jihad Council ? the body responsible for its military operations ? and to its executive council, in charge of financial and administrative affairs.
In recent weeks Israel has significantly turned up the heat on its previously simmering border conflict with Hezbollah, the most potently armed of Iran's proxies in the Middle East. Right after Hamas-led militants launched their brutal invasion of Israel border communities on Oct. 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity, forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Blinken, Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to capitalize on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by ending the conflict in Gaza and securing the release of Hamas-held hostages, the State Department said. Blinken, meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, also emphasized the need for Israel to boost humanitarian assistance into Gaza, the department said in a statement following their meeting.
The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed hope that the death of Sinwar, killed by Israeli troops last week, would help expedite a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages. Hamas, however, has rejected any further hostage releases until Israeli troops exit the battered enclave.
The leaders discussed a postwar Gaza that Blinken said "allows Palestinians to rebuild their lives and provides governance, security and reconstruction."
UN blasts Israel for hospital strike
The U.N. rights chief said he was “appalled” by a deadly Israeli strike nearly a Beirut hospital late Monday and demanded a “prompt and thorough investigation.” Officials in Lebanon said the attack killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded 60 others.
“I am appalled by the Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut’s densely populated Jnah neighborhood,” Volker Turk said in a statement. “The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians must be respected.”
The Israeli military said Tuesday that its jets hit a Hezbollah target near the hospital late Monday but did not hit the hospital. The director of the hospital, Jihad Saadeh, said the hospital was damaged: "Whether it was targeted or not, we don’t know, but Israel has no red lines."
Israel targets Hezbollah bunkers with hundreds of millions in cash, gold
The Israel military says one of its Hezbollah financial targets attacked this week was a bunker that contained tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold. Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari did not say whether the money had been seized or destroyed in the attack.
“One of our main targets last night was an underground vault," Hagari said at a briefing. "The money was being used to finance Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel."
Hagari also said another bunker filled with cash and gold was under a hospital in Beirut but said the vault had not been targeted yet.
“According to the estimates we have, there is at least half a billion dollars in dollar bills and gold stored in this bunker,” Hagari said. “This money could and still can be used to rebuild the state of Lebanon.”
UN agency calls for truce to treat wounded
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency called Tuesday for a temporary truce to allow people to leave areas of northern Gaza as health officials said they were running out of supplies to treat patients hurt in a three-week-old Israeli offensive. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UNRWA relief agency, said the humanitarian situation had reached a dire point as bodies are abandoned by roadsides or buried under rubble.
"In northern Gaza, people are just waiting to die," he said in a statement on the X platform. "They feel deserted, hopeless and alone."
"I am calling for an immediate truce, even if for a few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area & reach safer places," he said.
Contributing: Reuters
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shirel Golan, Hamas attack survivor, dies by suicide on 22nd birthday