RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian military getting weaker – Shoigu

Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said on Tuesday that the current situation in the combat zone suggests that the Ukrainian armed forces are losing strength and “panicking.” He cited a substantial takedown of aviation potential to back up his assertion.

Shoigu claimed that his forces downed 24 Ukrainian military planes in just five days, crediting “new weapons systems” for the achievement.

He also pointed to manpower losses reducing Kiev’s offensive potential. “Today’s situation shows that the enemy has fewer and fewer capabilities. And there are fewer of their soldiers thanks exclusively to your combat work,” he told servicemen from the Vostok Group.

“They are in panic, we know their tactics, we know their offensive and retreat plans,” he added.

Shoigu added that in the last three to four weeks many Ukrainians have been captured or have voluntarily surrendered. According to the minister, they speak about the poor psychological condition of their colleagues.

“We now have weapons systems which have taken down 24 planes in five days,” Shoigu was quoted as saying in a press release.

Footage of the discussion published by the military did not include the comments about the new weapons, while Shoigu did not detail the time frame in which the strikes on Ukrainian aircraft were conducted.

The Defense Ministry regularly reports successful engagements of Ukrainian military aircraft by fighter jets and air defense units. Briefings from last Friday to Tuesday claimed that 18 planes had been destroyed in total.

The list included 14 MiG-29s, two Su-24s, one Su-25, and one L-39. The latter is a Czech-produced trainer-fighter plane, rather than a more capable fighter or ground attack plane like the others. A single Mi-8 helicopter was taken down in the same period, according to the ministry.

The ministry’s briefing on Friday noted that in the week starting October 14, Russian forces took out 12 Ukrainian planes, including ten MiG-29s and two Su-25s. Seven of the MiGs were destroyed in a 24-hour period, the report said.

A source close to the Defense Ministry told TASS that Shoigu was referring to the use of the long-range air defense system S-400, with targeting data provided by the A-50 airborne radar. The interceptors fired during the engagement were reportedly armed with new warheads. The claim was not officially confirmed.

Shoigu attended the award ceremony after visiting one of the headquarters involved in the Ukrainian campaign. It was held in a tent in which weapons trophies appeared to be on display alongside portraits of Russian military commanders and Orthodox icons.

** Russia’s top brass reports downing two American ATACMS missiles for first time

Russian air defense forces shot down two US-made ATACMS missiles over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not report earlier about the destruction of ATACMS missiles.

"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities intercepted two US-made ATACMS tactical missiles, an S-200 surface-to-air missile converted for striking ground targets, two HARM anti-radiation missiles and two rockets of the US-manufactured HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the ministry said in a statement.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia disregards losses, presses on in Ukraine's Avdiivka

Russian forces are disregarding heavy losses and pressing on with a drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

Russia has focused on the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since failing in its initial drive on the capital Kyiv after mounting its invasion in February 2022.

Over the past two weeks, Russia has concentrated on Avdiivka in Donetsk, a town known in peacetime for its big coking plant and now seen as a bulwark of Ukrainian resistance.

"The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back," Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern groups of forces, said on national TV.

"So by no means can you speak of a fixed situation of some sort. Heavy fighting is continuing, though activity has subsided somewhat. The enemy is going through some kind of regrouping."

Russian forces were relying on infantry, using small assault groups of 30 to 40 men, Shtupun said, giving Russia's losses in the last six days as 2,500 dead and wounded in the area.

"This is quite significant even for Russia, bearing in mind that they do not look after their own men," Shtupun said.

Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, said Russia was applying pressure from the north but was unable to get past a rail line under Ukrainian control.

He also dismissed reports that Russian troops had secured control of one of the large slag heaps dominating the town's industrial landscape.

"They put up flags there and tried to make some kind of spectacle," Barabash said.

Valeriy Prozapas, a Ukrainian captain, told Espreso TV that the Russians were acting to exploit the fact that Avdiivka was "de facto half surrounded".

"The second issue is political. They have little to be proud of and have to sell to their population some sort of victory, even if it is only an interim one," Prozapas said.

Ukraine's counteroffensive, launched in June, has resulted in the capture of devastated villages in the east and some settlements in the southern sector, but the pace is far slower than last year's advance through the northeast.

Russian accounts of the latest fighting made no mention of Avdiivka, but said Russian troops had repelled 15 Ukrainian attacks near Kupiansk, farther north.

Ukrainian officials also acknowledged heavy fighting near Kupiansk, a town initially seized by troops but taken back by Ukraine in last year's rapid advance through the northeast.

Authorities in Kharkiv region said they were imposing a mandatory evacuation of families from 10 localities in the area.

RT/Tass/Reuters

George Orwell and his classic novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” are having a moment. The book ranks in the top ten on Amazon’s classic literature best seller list, and last year Russian media reported that it was the most downloaded e-book in that country.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk posted a picture on X (formerly Twitter) showing off his new T-shirt emblazoned with “What Would Orwell Think”  —  an ironic homage from a man many see as enabling a resurgence of Orwellian disinformation on the social media platform.

“Nineteen Eighty-Four,” a searing denunciation of totalitarianism, censorship and disinformation, brought us the terms “doublethink” and “Thought Police.” Its relevance in the era of Trump, Putin and Xi has led many to return to the novel or to seek it out for the first time.

The dangerous disinformation campaigns attending the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas earlier this month have only underscored the relevance of Orwell’s critique of those who seek to rewrite history for their own ends.

Yet, while “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is revered for its clear-eyed depiction of tyranny, there have long been those who chafed under the book’s representation of gender.

Now, nearly 75 years since its publication, the novelist Sandra Newman has produced a feminist retelling of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” which asks us to imagine how the story might have looked had it been told from the woman’s perspective.

“Julia” forms part of a long tradition of fictional retellings that complicate the perspective of an original work’s protagonist by telling the story through the eyes of a marginalized character.

Milton’s 17th-century epic poem “Paradise Lost,” which narrates the Old Testament from Satan’s perspective, is the first and arguably the best example of this genre, which also includes novels such as Jean Rhys’ 1966 “Wide Sargasso Sea,” a retelling of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” from the perspective of Bertha, the “madwoman in the attic,” and John Gardner’s “Grendel.” There have also been film and television reinterpretations such as Disney’s latest Star Wars spinoff “Ashoka,” which offers a new female-centered perspective on the fate of the Jedi after the fall of the Empire. As with Newman’s “Julia,” the most successful retellings are both homage to and critique of the original work.

In “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” agents of the totalitarian regime’s Thought Police entrap, arrest, torture and finally mentally break a couple perceived to be dangerously disloyal to Big Brother’s regime. In Big Brother’s eyes, both are threats worth eliminating, but in Orwell’s estimation, they are not equal.

The male member of the couple is the hero of the novel. We know his full name. Winston Smith. We know that he is thirty nine years old, and a factotum in the Records department of the Ministry of Truth (where he spends his days manufacturing fake news), that he has brown eyes, bad teeth and varicose veins. The woman presumably also has a full name, but we never learn it. She is simply Julia.

In fact, according to Orwell, she is not a woman but a “girl,” whom Winston estimates to be in her late 20s. (Tellingly, the reader never learns her age, only Winston’s perception of it.) Her principal traits are her physicality and her voracious sexuality.

They both work in the Ministry of Truth, but while Winston uses his mind to rewrite history, Julia uses her hands in “some mechanical job.” She is uninterested in politics.  She falls asleep when Winston attempts to share with her his revelations about the inner workings of Big Brother’s regime and laughs with delight when he dismissively claims that she is “only a rebel from the waist downwards.”

While they are both caught up in the Thought Police’s net, it’s clear that Winston is the big fish. Julia only meets O’Brien, their captor and interrogator, because Winston invites her to tag along when he pays a visit to the great man’s apartment.

At first reading, Orwell’s marginalization of Julia might seem like simply a product of its time — yet a growing body of work, including most recently Anna Funder’s “Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life,” has emerged suggesting that Orwell was exceptionally misogynistic and patriarchal even by the standards of the 1940s.

Orwell first came under attack from second-wave feminists in the 1980s, including Daphne Patai and Beatrix Campbell, who argued that his work generally ignored the position of women within society and specifically obscured the burdens that poverty places on working-class women.

A spate of archival revelations over the past few years further reinforced existing evidence that he was a philanderer who frequented prostitutes and seemingly never missed an opportunity to proposition both his wife’s friends and his friends’ wives.

So, how would the story of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” have looked different had it been told by a feminist?

For one thing, Julia would have had a last name. Julia Worthing. She would also have a fully developed backstory.  In Newman’s novel, Julia comes from a family of bourgeois socialists who are initially in the vanguard of Big Brother’s revolution.

Her family is first exiled and ultimately murdered when the leader, like the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on whom he was modeled, consolidates his hold on power by eliminating his potential rivals within the party.

Julia’s sexuality and her anti-intellectual practical-mindedness are the tools that help her survive life as an exile and an orphan.  She sleeps her way back from exile and into a good party job in London.

She mentally compartmentalizes the crimes that she is forced to commit to survive, and she possesses a knack for black-marketeering, which keeps her in chocolates, coffee and cigarettes. Whereas Winston’s rebellion is driven by an intellectual rejection of Big Brother, hers is ultimately propelled by love. (Crucially, not love for Winston Smith who is, at best, a minor character in Julia’s story).

It’s an ingenious conceit. At several points, I found myself asking whether this portrait of Julia could really be squared with the two-dimensional picture of her that we get in “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and whether the story that Newman tells could hold simultaneously with Orwell’s narrative. That they arguably could underscores how differently the world can look depending on your perspective.

Newman’s attempt to turn Orwell’s Oceania on its head and look at it from the perspective of a woman never granted the dignity of a last name is in many ways not dissimilar to this summer’s blockbuster attempt to reclaim “Barbie” for feminism.

Like Barbie Handler, Julia Worthing is a product of the patriarchy who refuses to stay in the box and let herself be objectified and diminished. She insists on being the heroine of her own story and, in doing so, pushes Winston Smith into a life of blond fragility.

But if the Barbie movie largely dodged the problematic question of Barbie’s hypersexualized physical appearance in favor of a focus on her intellectual awakening, Newman’s Julia remains fundamentally a rebel from the waist downwards.

Why doesn’t Julia get to be an intellectual rebel in her own right? Why must she be characterized by the traditional “feminine” traits of empathy, practicality and intuition, not to mention a stereotypical physical attractiveness?

The women’s movement has long been divided between maternalist or biological feminists who view woman as fundamentally different from men and seek to elevate and celebrate that difference, and equal rights feminists who argue that gender differences are largely societal constructs and that, but for patriarchy, empathy would not be deemed a feminine trait nor intellect a masculine one. (Others, of course, would argue that the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes.)

In doubling down on Orwell’s depiction of Julia as a practical-minded anti-intellectual, Newman’s book appears to come down firmly in the former camp.

One of my favorite parts of the original “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is a rare instance in which Orwell grants Julia intelligence and agency, with the narrator even conceding that, “In some ways she was far more acute than Winston.”

This moment comes as the couple are discussing the seemingly endless war between Oceania and its rivals, when “she startle[s] him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening. The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, ‘just to keep people frightened’. This was an idea that had literally never occurred to him.”

Perhaps this is just evidence of Julia’s feminine intuition, but it at least hints that she possesses a power of reasoning equal to if not beyond Winston’s.

In exalting Julia’s feminine practicality above Winston’s idealism, Newman is arguably adhering to Orwell’s original pessimistic message about the futility of clinging to notions of intellectual freedom under absolute tyranny. But it is cold comfort to imagine that Julia might have survived by forfeiting her right to think for herself.

Matt Higgins’ “number one” piece of advice for finding a highly successful mentor: Don’t ask anyone to mentor you.

The “Shark Tank” investor and RSE Ventures CEO doesn’t like it when people cold-message him with mentorship requests, he said during Tuesday’s CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event. “Mentorships don’t just form from two strangers,” he said.

A request for mentorship from a stranger might seem demanding and come off transactional, Higgins said. Instead, if you have someone you want to enlist as a mentor, reach out with a specific question that you want advice on. Then, you can start to build a relationship that might lead to mentorship down the line.

You could ask Higgins, for example: “I heard on ‘Shark Tank’ that you struggle with impostor syndrome. Tomorrow, I have a huge interview. Can you give me one sentence of advice?”

“I am going to answer that,” Higgins said, adding: “Ask a discrete question that makes it easier for somebody to help you and maybe over time an authentic relationship will form, and they will lean in.”

Putting ego aside and asking for help isn’t embarrassing, Higgins said. And though he says he wasn’t always comfortable with it, he’s learned to embrace “the indignity of putting [himself] out there and DMing folks and explaining [his] mission.”

Higgins isn’t the only “Shark Tank” star to weigh in on the value of mentorship. In a 2020 interview, Mark Cuban said that he isn’t “a big mentor guy” because he views them as a “shortcut” to success. 

“That’s not to say that mentors and coaches can’t be of value,” Cuban said. ”[But] there are people telling you, “I’m going to make you rich’ and ’I’ve got the solution,” when they have never really done it themselves.”

Daymond John, another “Shark Tank” investor, is less skeptical. Learning how to bounce back from failure from mentors “changed his life,” he told Make It in 2021. Those mentors weren’t necessarily billionaires or CEOs, he added — they were simply people in his family and community who were willing to help him out.

“You may not be able to get a hold of Daymond John or Barbara Corcoran,” John said. “But mentors are all around in our community. They’re just in disguise.”

CNBC

Attahiru Jega, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the commission must probe why the presidential poll results failed to upload to the INEC results viewing portal (IReV).

Speaking in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Jega said as a former chairman of the commission, he could relate to many of the challenges faced during the general election.

“And if you are so confident with the planning process, and at the end of it all, there is a failure somewhere, you will take the blame because you are the leader,” he said.

“But it does not mean you are the one who has deliberately done it because you are compromised. We need to be fair in our assessment.”

The former INEC chairman said before he left the commission, an evaluation of the success and failure rate of the card reader was carried out.

“The card reader failed in five percent of places of deployment which is 95 percent success. But the pressmen and politicians were just focused on where it failed. But it can never be perfect,” Jega said.

“I can tell you that the BVAS that was developed to replace the card reader is of significant value to the electoral process. The major failure experienced during the polls relates to the upload to the IREV as promised by the chairman.

“I think we need to interrogate why the uploading, specifically with regards to the presidential election, failed.

“This needs to be done, not just in-house by INEC, but in a very transparent manner. I think there will be a lot of revelations with regards to what happened in order to properly apportion blame to who is responsible for what happened.”

The Cable

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has, in his latest jibe at President Bola Tinubu, said titles don’t honour men but men bring honour to titles.

In a veiled reference to the President, Obi in a statement posted to his verified X handle on Tuesday, declared that identity crisis and controversies have continued to haunt the Nigerian citadel of power since the February 25, 2023 presidential elections.

He said: “There is this saying that ‘It is not titles that honour men, but men honour titles’.

“The lofty titles that decorate people in power have little meaning if there is a hollowness and falsehood underneath them. Titles such as “President”, “Governor” etc, which decorate those in public office, mean nothing if they are not original and are fake if those who bear them have no honour to support the weight of the titles they carry.

“In situations where there is public doubt as to the veracity and authenticity of these titles and the claims behind them, it is the role of the judiciary, when called upon, to uphold the honour of the titles through transparent rulings.

… judiciary

“It is only through such judicial interventions that the public can be protected from the tyranny of dubious and duplicitous characters and identity fraudsters.

“In such situations, the judiciary has a bounding duty in this regard to protect the value system of the society. This is one of the obligations of an impartial judiciary in a democracy.

“The rule of law remains the lifeblood of democracy in all societies and by whatever definition across time. It remains the foundation for all our basic rights as humans.

“It is the rule of law that binds society together. The expectation by the high and the low alike that their rights will be protected and respected by fair judges in transparent courts is what keeps citizens’ loyalty and belief in democracy.

“People, irrespective of their station in life, approach the courts whenever they feel their rights are assailed in the expectation that fair courts will serve them justice according to law.

“However, when the fairness of the judiciary is not assured and the transparency of judiciary operatives is uncertain, the rule of law will come under severe threat.

“Once ordinary people lose faith in the fairness of the judiciary, the rule of law is threatened. With it, faith in democracy comes under threat as well.

“A society is endangered when the rule of the powerful, the rich and the mighty replaces the rule of law.

“When that obtains, justice becomes a commodity to be traded on between the rich and powerful on the one hand and a cult of corrupt judiciary operatives on the other.

“When a democracy lives based on faulty justice, it opens society to obvious dangers. Governments become subject to impunity and casual violations of the rights of ordinary citizens.

“The rich and powerful can trample on the rights of the lowly as there are no consequences for infractions or lawless acts. This can be the groundwork for a democracy to graduate into an autocracy.

“US President Joe Biden could not be more apt when he said ‘For any young democracy, the most difficult but important step is burying the legacy of tyranny and establishing an economy and a government and institutions that abide by the rule of law’.”

Vanguard

Lagos state division of Tax Appeal Tribunal has ordered MTN Nigeria Communications to pay $72,551,059, in tax default to the Federal Inland Revenue Services.

The fine covers for 2007 to 2017.

However, the Tribunal absolved the telecommunication firm from paying $21,039,807, as penalties and interest on the principal sum.

A five-man panel led by A. B. Hamed, gave the verdict and order on Friday, while delivering judgment in an appeal numbered TAT/LZ/VAT/075, filed by the telecommunication company against the request by the FIRS to pay the default.

Other members of the panel were P. A. Olayemi, Babatunde Sobamowo, Samuel N. Ohwerhoye and Terzungwe Gbakighir.

The facts of the matter according to the processes filed before the appeal, were that sometime in May 10, 2018, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation issued a report of its investigation into the MTN’s Forms A and M transactions. The report covered the 2007 to 2017 accounting years.

But, in a revised report dated August 20, 2018, the OAGF adjusted the alleged outstanding in respect of import duty and VAT to the tune of N242.2 bn, (Form M -visible transactions) whilst the section relating to VAT and Withholding tax (WHT) was revised to $1.284 bn (Form A invisible transactions).

The processes also stated that sometime in mid-2020, the FIRS informed MTN that it had received a report from the OAGF in respect of its alleged liability to VAT and WHT.

FIRS consequently conducted a review of MTN’s tax and accounting records and upheld the OAGF’s alleged tax liability.

However, MTN and its tax consultant, KPMG Advisory Services, held a series of meetings with FIRS to resolve the tax dispute arising from MTN’s alleged tax liability.

Thereafter, in July 2021, the FIRS issued a VAT assessment of $93,590,366 to the MTN. This assessment comprised $72,551,059m, as the principal liability and $21,039,807m, for penalties and interest on the principal sum (first assessment).

MTN objected to the first assessment whereupon the FIRS further reviewed the assessment. Accordingly, by the Notice of Assessment dated April 14, 2022, the Respondent issued a revised assessment for $135,697,755m to MTN as a revised assessment.

Although the principal amount of tax alleged to be outstanding and due from the Appellant (principal tax liability) in the revised assessment, i.e. $47,776,210m, was less than the alleged principal tax liability contained in the first assessment, i.e., $72,551,059m, the interest and penalty imposed by the FIRS on the alleged principal tax liability in the revised assessment, i.e. $87.900m, is higher than the interest and penalty imposed by the FIRS on the alleged principal tax liability in the first assessment, i.e. $21,039,807m.

Also MTN by a letter of notice of objection dated May 13, 2022, objected to the FIRS’s revised assessment, and FIRS by a letter dated June 16, with ref. no. FIRS/TID/LOS/2020/0213/01, notified the MTN of its refusal to amend the revised assessment.

Dissatisfied with the FIRS’s amended revised assessment, MTN filed the Appeal before the Tax Appeal Tribunal.

Upon reviewing all the processes filed by the parties, the tribunal distilled five issues for determination, which were; “Whether in view of the clear and unequivocal provisions of the VAT Act prior to the amendment by the Finance Acts, the provision of software licensing and upgrades qualified as a taxable supply of goods and services.

“Whether the provision/lease of bandwidth capacities by Intelsat Global Services & Marketing Ltd, a non-resident entity, through transponders located in the satellite, qualifies as a taxable supply of goods and services.

“Whether in the absence of the production of any false or untrue document or statement by the Appellant, the Respondent has authority to conduct a tax investigation beyond the 5-year restriction.

“Whether training provided by offshore facilitators outside of Nigeria is liable to VAT in Nigeria.

“Whether the Respondent acted in error when it calculated and imposed interest and penalty on the Appellant’s alleged non-remittance of VAT liabilities, the said liabilities having not become final and conclusive.”

While counsel to MTN urged the tribunal to determine the issues in its favour, FIRS counsels, who include: Abu Ocheme Director Legal FIRS, Egodi Adedeji and Moses Ideho, urged the court to dismiss MTN’s appeal, and determine the issues raised in FIRS’s favour.

The tribunal, after taking arguments from the parties, resolved issues one to four in favour of the FIRS, and issue five was resolved in favour of MTN.

The tribunal after perusing all the processes filed by parties, and citing a plethora of authorities held that: “In the final analysis, it is the decision of the Tribunal that issues one to four discussed above are all resolved in favour of the Respondent and the appellant is therefore ordered to settle the assessed liabilities accordingly.

“However, issue five in relation to penalty and interest is resolved in favour of the Appellant and is therefore set aside by this Honourable Tribunal.”

Punch

After a nine-month suspension due to security concerns related to banditry, flights have resumed at the Hassan Usman Katsina International Airport, Kaduna, Kaduna State.

Air Peace’ flight ERJ-145 which touched down at the airport at 5:10pm on Monday signified the reinstatement of flight services on the route.

Recall that the airport’s vicinity experienced bandits’ attack in March, 2022, resulting in a temporary disruption of flight operations at the airport. While Azman Air did resume operations at a point, it also ceased operations approximately five months ago.

This compelled passengers, especially those travelling on the Lagos-Kaduna route, to either land in Kano or Abuja and then proceed to Kaduna by road.

Upon the resumption of Air Peace flights on Monday evening, passengers expressed satisfaction, urging the government and relevant authorities to ensure the continuous operational integrity of the airport.

The Airport Manager, Adamu Sheikh, who disclosed that several other airlines were in the process of preparing to recommence operations, emphasised the implementation of stringent security measures for aircraft arrivals and departures.

He said, “Multiple airlines are making a comeback, and we are well-prepared. We have garnered the cooperation of all security agencies, with everyone dedicated to safeguarding the airport for smooth aircraft operations.”

Kaduna Station Manager of Air Peace, Fatima Ndayako, explained that the airline returned to the Kaduna route due to persistent requests from their loyal customers, assuring that the airline would operate daily flights to and from Lagos.

At present, Air Peace is the exclusive carrier offering services between Lagos and Kaduna at the Kaduna airport, with flight capacities accommodating up to 50 passengers.

Daily Trust

An Israeli hostage released by Hamas has described her ordeal after she was kidnapped by gunmen and taken into a tunnel system in Gaza during the Palestinian militant group’s deadly assault in Israel on October 7, saying “I went through hell.”

Yocheved Lifshitz, a frail 85-year-old grandmother who was one of two hostages released by Hamas on Monday, recounted the moment that militants snatched her from her home in the kibbutz of Nir Oz and drove her away on a motorbike towards Gaza, a “painful act” during which she said she was beaten and sustained bruises.

Lifshitz said she was forced to walk on wet ground and descended into an underground tunnel system she likened to a spiderweb, where she was greeted by “people who told us we believe in the Quran” and promised “not to harm” her and her fellow hostages.

Lifshitz’s daughter Sharone, who helped convey her mother’s comments to reporters outside a hospital in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, called it a “huge network” of tunnels.

Lifshitz said she was initially grouped together with 25 other people before her captors separated her into a smaller group with four other individuals from her kibbutz. She said they slept on mattresses on the floor of the tunnels, ate the same food as Hamas fighters and received regular treatment from doctors during her incarceration.

“They really took care of the sanitary side of things so that we didn’t get sick,” Lifshitz added.

Each of the five hostages in her group received their own doctor and there was a paramedic present who supervised medication, she said.

“They were very generous to us, very kind. They kept us clean,” Lifshitz said. “They took care of every detail. There are a lot of women and they know about feminine hygiene and they took care of everything there.”

Lifshitz also accused the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet intelligence service of not taking threats from Hamas “seriously” and said the costly Gaza border fence erected by Israel had done nothing to protect her community from Hamas’ attack.

“The lack of awareness by Shin Bet and the IDF hurt us a lot,” she stressed. “They warned us three weeks beforehand, they burned fields, they sent fire balloons and the IDF did not treat it seriously,” she continued.

Lifshitz explained how this culminated in the attack on Nir Oz in southern Israel on October 7.

“All of a sudden on a Saturday morning, everything was very quiet. There was a hard pounding on the settlement,” Lifshitz said. Not long after, “hordes” of Hamas fighters broke through the kibbutz’s “expensive” fences and kept coming in their “droves,” she said.

“It was very, very difficult and unpleasant,” a visibly upset Lifshitz added.

As she concluded her remarks, Sharone said her mother’s feeling was that “the story’s not over until everybody comes back.”

Hostage release an ‘amazing thing’

Hamas released Lifshitz and her neighbor and friend Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday, and later they were reunited with family members who rushed to their bedside at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv.

Lifshitz’s grandson Daniel, who heard of her release while staying at a hotel in Eilats with other evacuees from Nir Oz, said Monday that news of the women’s release sent a jolt of joy through the hotel and hope that others may be freed soon.

“For this community to see these two old women was just an amazing thing,” said Daniel Lifshitz, who took a helicopter from the hotel to see his grandmother in the early hours of Tuesday.

More than a quarter of the Nir Oz community are dead or remain missing after October 7 attack, when Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in barbaric raids, according to Israeli authorities.

The attack triggered a retaliatory Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 5,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and threatened to escalate into a wider regional conflict.

The release of the two women takes the total number of captives freed to four, but more than 200 hostages are believed to be trapped in Gaza, some within the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels dug beneath the coastal strip.

The remaining hostages include Lifshitz and Cooper’s husbands, Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Cooper, 85.

Yocheved’s daughter Sharone previously told CNN she was “delighted” about her mother’s release but fears for her father and others being held.

“My father is there and so many other people we know are waiting for good news about everyone,” she said. “We don’t know what’s going on with them. Not even know if they’re alive or what their situation is.”

For decades, Lifshitz and Cooper lived within the close community of Nir Oz, once home to 400 people near the Gaza border. Being so close to the barrier fence, it was one of the first communities targeted by Hamas militants – and one of the worst hit.

Rows of houses now stand devoid of life, their windows broken, bedrooms torched, and residents’ possessions strewn all around. Video footage shows dried blood smeared on beds and floors, the walls pocked with bullet holes.

Lifshitz is one of the community’s founders and worked as a photographer and a teacher at the regional high school, according to a Nir Oz community statement.

Cooper was also a long-term resident and worked in early childhood education and at the local paint factory, the statement said.

On Tuesday, Eti Uziel, head nurse at Ichilov hospital, said both women appeared to be in “OK medical condition.”

“They will stay with us tonight and tomorrow,” Uziel said in a video released by the hospital shortly after the women’s arrival. “Right now, for them and family members, it is a very, very emotional situation, and we are happy that they are here with us.”

Ken Grey, a criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven and former FBI special agent, told CNN Tuesday of the intelligence value of Lipshitz’s remarks.

“It means that there was a process of separating the hostages to make it more difficult in the event that IDF comes in to rescue the hostages,” he said. “That may not have been the intent but it certainly shows that this will be a difficulty on the part of any type of rescue operation – the fact that the logistics will make it difficult having them in separate locations.”

Grey also noted Lipshitz’s comments could be part of a strategy from Hamas.

“They want to project the information that they are treating the hostages very well … using this as a method of being able to show themselves of being humane, treating the hostages well. And then it will make the IDF look even worse when they actually enter into the Gaza,” referring to Israel’s anticipated ground operation.

Remaining hostages

The latest hostage release comes amid growing international pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of hundreds of others still held captive in Gaza.

They include nationals from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand as well as Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Talks to secure the release of a large number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza are ongoing, two sources familiar with the matter and one western diplomat familiar with the discussions told CNN, but the negotiations - which involve the United States, Israel, Qatar, Egypt and Hamas - are being complicated by a number of factors.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas in response to the deadly October 7 attacks, and is cutting off Gaza from water, fuel and food as it pounds key targets with airstrikes.

The sustained bombardment of the enclave despite the presence of so many Palestinian civilians has angered Arab nations and drawn condemnation with public protests worldwide.

The US is seeking to delay an Israeli ground offensive in hopes of getting more hostages out and aid into Gaza, according to two sources briefed on discussions. However, a senior Israeli official told CNN there will be “no ceasefire.”

US President Joe Biden on Monday called on Hamas to release its hostages before talks could start on a ceasefire.

For the families of those held, there’s no time to waste.

Daniel Lifshitz said seeing his grandmother had shown him that other hostages need to be freed as soon as possible.

“I’m telling you we have to be fast, seeing my grandmother like that,” he said. “The clock is ticking and… bringing all those hostages back is so evident now – it’s the top mission now for everybody.”

CNN

Israeli airstrikes surge in Gaza, destroying homes and killing dozens at a time

Israel escalated airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, crushing families in the rubble of residential buildings, as health officials said hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the past day and medical facilities were shut down because of bomb damage and lack of power.

The soaring death toll from the bombardment is unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It augurs an even greater loss of life in Gaza once Israeli forces backed by tanks and artillery launch an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas militants.

Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the devastating Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on towns in southern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 704 people over the past day, mostly women and children. The Associated Press could not independently verify the death tolls cited by Hamas, which says it tallies figures from hospital directors.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. also could not verify that one-day death toll.

“The Ministry of Health is run by Hamas, and I think that all needs to be factored into anything that they put out publicly.”

Israel said Tuesday it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they prepared to fire rockets into Israel and striking command centers and a Hamas tunnel shaft. Israel reported 320 strikes the day before.

Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Israel, for its part, has vowed repeatedly since the massacre to crush Hamas.

On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told the U.N. Security Council that the proportionate response to the Oct. 7 attack is “a total destruction to the last one” of the militants. “It is not only Israel’s right to destroy Hamas. It’s our duty,” he said.

The Israeli military said it thwarted an assault by a group of Hamas underwater divers who tried to infiltrate Israel on a beach just north of Gaza. They were attacked by air, naval and ground forces.

Across central and south Gaza, where Israel told civilians to take shelter, there were multiple scenes of rescuers pulling the dead and wounded out of large piles of rubble from collapsed buildings. Graphic photos and video shot by the AP showed rescuers unearthing bodies of children from multiple ruins.

A father knelt on the floor of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah next to the bodies of three dead children cocooned in bloodied sheets. Later at the nearby morgue, workers prayed over 24 dead wrapped in body bags, several of them the size of small children.

Buildings that collapsed on residents killed dozens at a time in several cases, witnesses said. Two families lost a total 47 members in a leveled home in Rafah, the Health Ministry said.

A strike on a four-story building in Khan Younis killed at least 32 people, including 13 members of the Saqallah family, said Ammar al-Butta, a relative who survived the airstrike. He said there were about 100 people sheltering in the building, including many who had evacuated from Gaza City.

“We thought that our area would be safe,” he said.

Another strike destroyed a bustling marketplace in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, witnesses said. AP photos showed the floor of a vegetable shop covered with blood.

In Gaza City, at least 19 people were killed when an airstrike hit the house of the Bahloul family, according to survivors, who said dozens more people remained buried. The legs of a dead woman and another person, both still half buried, dangled out of the wreckage where workers dug through the dirt, concrete and rebar.

The Health Ministry says more than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including some 2,300 minors. The figure includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week.

The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government.

As the death toll in Gaza spirals, and fuel supplies dwindle, the number of facilities able to deal with casualties is shrinking. More than half of primary health care facilities, and roughly 1 of every 3 hospitals, have stopped functioning, the World Health Organization said.

Overwhelmed hospital staff struggled to triage cases as constant waves of wounded were brought in. The Health Ministry said many wounded are laid on the ground without even simple medical intervention and others wait for days for surgeries because there are so many critical cases.

While Israel has allowed a small number of trucks filled with aid to enter, it has barred deliveries of fuel to Gaza to keep it out of Hamas’ hands. The U.N. said its operation distributing aid will halt Wednesday evening if it does not receive fuel.

To make room for the dead, cemeteries have been forced to excavate and reuse old plots. Families have dug trenches to bury multiple bodies at a time.

“Bodies pour in by the hundreds every day. We use every empty inch in the cemeteries,” said Abdel Rahman Mohamed, a volunteer who helps transfer bodies to Khan Younis’ main cemetery.

Israel says it does not target civilians and that Hamas militants are using them as cover for their attacks. Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the war, according to Israel, and Hamas said it fired a fresh barrage on Tuesday.

On Monday, Hamas released two elderly Israeli women who were among the roughly 220 people Israel says were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack and forced into Gaza.

Appearing weak in a wheelchair and speaking softly, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz told reporters Tuesday that the militants beat her with sticks, bruising her ribs and making it hard to breathe as they kidnapped her. They drove her into Gaza, then forced her to walk several kilometers (miles) on wet ground to reach a network of tunnels that looked like a spider web, she said.

Once there, she said, she was treated well, fed and given medical care.

Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper were freed days after an American woman and her teenage daughter were released.

The Israeli military dropped leaflets in Gaza asking Palestinians to reveal information on the hostages’ whereabouts. In exchange, the military promised a reward and protection for the informant’s home.

Iranian-backed fighters around the region are warning of possible escalation, including the targeting of U.S. forces deployed in the Mideast, if a ground offensive is launched. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily across the Israel-Lebanon border.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces pound eastern Ukraine's Avdiivka

Russian forces pounded the shattered eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Tuesday, but heavy losses forced them to switch to air attacks and rely less on full-on ground advances, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia has focused on advancing in the east -- in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk -- after failing to move on Kyiv in the early days of its invasion, launched in February 2022.

Ukraine in June undertook a counteroffensive, capturing villages in the east and south, but at a much slower pace than a rapid advance through the northeast a year ago.

Russia appears to have focused for the moment on Avdiivka -- a town known for its vast coking plant and now a hallmark of Ukrainian resistance.

"The enemy dropped about 40 guided aerial bombs in two nights. But the number of ground assaults has been reduced, half of what it was yesterday and the day before," Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, told national television.

"This is not surprising as over the past five days, the enemy has lost about 2,400 dead and wounded in Donetsk region."

Most of those casualties, he said, were near Avdiivka and the nearby long-contested town of Maryinka

Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, said the town was enduring unrelenting artillery and air attacks.

"The enemy is persistently trying to surround the city and is throwing in new forces from the north and south," Barabash told television.

"For two days, they have been operating mostly in small groups, trying to find cracks in our defence, but without success. The defence line is holding."

Avdiivka was captured briefly in 2014, when Russian-backed separatists seized large chunks of eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian forces took it back and built solid fortifications.

Russian forces have also been attacking further north in the area of Kupiansk -- a town initially seized by Russian forces after the invasion but recaptured by Ukraine in last year's drive in the northeast.

Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Synehub said two civilians had died in an artillery strike on a village near Kupiansk.

Russian accounts of the fighting have avoided any mention of Avdiivka this week, but noted successful artillery and air strikes near Bakhmut -- a town to the northeast captured by Russian forces in May after months of battles.

Reuters could not independently verify accounts of battlefield activity on either side.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces pound Ukrainian troops, equipment in 109 areas over past day

Russian forces struck Ukrainian troops and military equipment in 109 areas over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"Operational/tactical and army aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groupings of forces struck the Ukrainian army’s manpower and military hardware in 109 areas," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces destroy 60 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces destroyed roughly 60 Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the western battlegroup supported by aircraft and artillery fire repulsed in their active operations eight attacks by the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 32nd mechanized, 68th jaeger and 101st territorial defense brigades near the settlements of Ivanovka, Sinkovka and Sergeyevka in the Kharkov Region. The enemy’s losses equaled as many as 60 Ukrainian personnel and two pickup trucks," the ministry said.

** Russian drones hunt for German Leopards

Newly published battlefield footage from the conflict in Ukraine purports to show two German-made Leopard battle tanks taking direct hits in Russian drone strikes, with both seen erupting into flames during engagements with Russian forces.

In a pair of clips shared by military bloggers on Tuesday, two Ukrainian tanks appeared to meet their demise after taking direct hits from Russian UAVs and artillery. Open-source conflict monitor channel LostArmour identified the destoyed tanks as German-made Leopard 2A4s.

The videos were said to have been captured near the town of Rabotino in Zaporozhye, the site of fierce battles in recent weeks.

Another clip shows a Leopard advancing through an open field from a distance, firing off a few shells before it is struck by a First Person View (FPV) drone, which have been employed heavily throughout the conflict.

Since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in early June, the Russian military has repeatedly published photos and videos of destroyed Ukrainian military equipment, including Western-made hardware. Clips showing the destruction and capture of German-made Leopard tanks and at least two British Challengers have since been made public.

Earlier this month, Russian Lancet loitering munitions were seen taking out British-supplied howitzers in a long-distance “precision strike,” while other footage has shown strikes on Ukrainian aircraft parked at far-away airfields.

Moscow has repeatedly urged against foreign arms shipments to Kiev, insisting the weapons would only prolong the fighting but do little to deter its military objectives.

Late last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Western-made armor was “readily burning” under Russian strikes, and though he acknowledged recently-supplied US Abrams tanks were “some serious weapons,” he declared that “these will burn too.”

According to the Russian Defense Ministry’s latest estimates, Ukraine has lost more than 17,000 soldiers and over 2,700 pieces of hardware in its counteroffensive in September alone. The operation has failed to achieve major changes to the front lines since it was launched in June, despite the heavy casualties suffered by Ukrainian forces.

Reuters/Tass/RT