Israeli Court Confiscates Arafat’s Property in Jerusalem

Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Reuters file photo
Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Reuters file photo
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Israeli Court Confiscates Arafat’s Property in Jerusalem

Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Reuters file photo
Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Reuters file photo

An Israeli court ruled Monday that late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died almost 15 years ago, and captive Marwan Barghouti were responsible for 17 anti-Israeli attacks committed by Palestinians during the second Intifada.

The ruling by the Jerusalem District Court came in response to a complaint filed on behalf of victims demanding one billion shekels (250 million euros, $280 million) in compensation, according to a justice ministry statement.

The amount is to be decided by the court at a later date, it said.

"This is one of the steps towards achieving justice for the victims and their families," said lawyer Nitzana Darshan-Leitner of Israeli NGO Shurat Hadin, which represented the victims.

The second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, lasted from 2000 to 2005.

The court said that although some of the 17 attacks were carried out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian Authority should also be held responsible.

Shurat Hadin presented documents to the court that Arafat owned a property in east Jerusalem, so the court decided to confiscate it and put it up for sale as part of the compensation it asked for the victims' families.



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.