The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they unfold.
Family of hostage Eliya Cohen is told he’s held chained, with little food or daylight
In addition to the details unveiled Sunday about the brutal captivity conditions suffered by Alon Ohel in Gaza, the family of fellow hostage Eliya Cohen have also said they received harrowing information.
Cohen, who unlike Ohel is set to be released in the current first phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal with the Hamas terror group, has been chained throughout his time in captivity and gets very little food or daylight, his family has been told, according to Hebrew media reports.
The new details have been provided by hostages who recently returned from captivity after more than 15 months of being held by Palestinian terrorists.
Sigi Cohen, Eliya’s mother, tells the Israel Hayom daily that Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, who were released on Saturday in extremely poor physical shape, have said Eliya Cohen was held with them in tunnels, adding that she was rattled by the details and by the released hostage’s appearances, which show they’ve been “going through a Holocaust.”
She says Eliya is wounded in his leg and hasn’t received appropriate medical attention.
“It’s frightening to hear that they are abusing them now as well. They said they were abused recently,” Sigi adds, lamenting that there are 22 young men in captivity who aren’t slated for release in the current phase “and who aren’t being talked about.”
She calls for releasing all the captives, “no matter the price.”
Police said to raid leading bookstore in East Jerusalem, arrest owner, seize books
Israel Police officers have reportedly raided two famous bookstores in East Jerusalem that focus on Palestinian identity and the Israeli-Arab conflict, confiscating many books and arresting the owner of the chain for the night.
According to Haaretz, the cops came to the Educational Bookshop’s two stores under a court-granted search warrant, arresting owner Mahmoud Muna and his nephew, Ahmad Muna, who will spend the night at the police headquarters at the Russian Compound.
תקראו כדי להבין לאן הגענו:
היום פשטו שוטרים על שתי החנויות של Educational Bookshop במזרח ירושלים, החרימו ספרים ועצרו את הבעלים (צו החיפוש ניתן ע"י השופטת חוי טוקר). אחיו של אחד הבעלים מספר: "הם עברו עם גוגל טרנסלייט על הספרים וכל מה שלא מצא חן בעינהם הם לקחו. הם אפילו נתקלו>> pic.twitter.com/hg1Q9TR8YS— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) February 9, 2025
Haaretz quotes the brother of one of the owners as claiming the officers used Google translate to determine which books — most of which are in Arabic — to confiscate.
“They took any book they didn’t like,” he reportedly says. “They even saw a Haaretz newspaper with images of hostages, asked what it was and said it was incitement. They took any book with a Palestinian flag.”
The report says the owners are formally suspected of disrupting public order rather than of incitement, since the latter requires approval by prosecutors.
אין דיפלומט, עיתונאי זר, תייר מתעניין או חוקר של ירושלים והסכסוך שלא מכיר את החנויות האלו ואת הבעלים, מחמוד מונא, שיבלה את הלילה במגרש הרוסים (ביחד עם אחיינו, אחמד מונא).
הנה למשל כמה מהספרים שנלקחו בחיפוש והוחזרו הערב: pic.twitter.com/Qffns86vs1— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) February 9, 2025
Cabinet meeting ends; decision on forming state commission of inquiry delayed by 3 months
A cabinet meeting ends after some four hours of discussions on potentially forming a state commission of inquiry into the failure to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, Hebrew media reports.
The ministers decide to hold another meeting on the subject in 90 days.
The meeting was convened only due to a December 2024 ruling from the High Court of Justice, which ordered the government to hold a hearing on the establishment of a state commission of inquiry within 60 days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of establishing any inquiry before the end of the war, and critics have alleged he seeks to establish a panel with fewer powers than a state commission, fearing it would implicate him in the disaster.
Egypt says it rejects ‘misleading accusations’ made by Netanyahu in US media
Egypt disapproves of statements made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in US media, describing them as “misleading accusations,” the country’s foreign ministry says.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu accused Egypt of preventing Gazans from leaving the territory. “Some would bribe the gatekeepers,” he said. “So, the very rich got out, but those who wanted to leave couldn’t,” he added, arguing that Palestinians in Gaza should be given the option to relocate.
It is unclear if the foreign ministry is referring to the Fox News interview.
Trump: 3 Israeli hostages released Saturday ‘looked like Holocaust survivors’; at some point, ‘we’re going to lose our patience’
In his remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, US President Donald Trump says the three Israeli hostages who were released Saturday by Hamas looking gaunt and frail resembled Jews under Nazi Germany, warning that “at some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.”
Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami “looked like Holocaust survivors,” Trump says. “They were in horrible condition, they were emaciated… and I don’t know how much longer we can take that.”
He goes on to say the trio “look like they haven’t had a meal in a month,” and that they are “people that were healthy people a reasonably short number of years ago, and you look at them today, they look like they’ve aged 25 years, they literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors, the same thing. No reason for that.”
Trump notes that according to the current ceasefire and hostage deal, captives are supposed to “keep drippling in,” but adds: “They are in really bad shape, they have been treated brutally, horribly. Even the ones that came out earlier, they were in a little bit better shape, but mentally they were treated so badly. Who could take that?
“You know, at some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.”
I watched the hostages come back today. And they looked like Holocaust surivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emacitated. It looked like many years ago the Holocaust survivors. I don't know how much longer we can take that…We're going to lose our patience"
– Trump pic.twitter.com/axyUrhlzPG— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) February 9, 2025