The BBC, the Times, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Standard and ITV News all cover the release of two more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifschitz were released on Monday evening. Their husbands are still being held.
 
The Times and the Financial Times both report that the United States has warned Israel to delay its anticipated ground invasion of Gaza. Officials in Washington are concerned that the IDF is not sufficiently prepared to take on Hamas in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Gaza. Additionally, Israel has yet to agree a detailed plan for postwar Gaza, raising fears that a land invasion against Hamas could begin without adequate preparation for its aftermath.
 
The Financial Times also covers that the United States is using Israel’s delay in launching a ground invasion of Gaza to move defensive systems into the region amid growing fears that Iran and its proxies will escalate attacks once the invasion begin. Jonathan Beale, for the BBC, writes that “The US clearly hopes that its military support for Israel and its own bolstered military presence in the region will be enough to prevent the conflict widening.”
 
Sky News reports that Israel is in ‘limbo’ dues to continued delays to the anticipated ground invasion of Gaza. Stuart Ramsay writes that, ‘Although Israeli soldiers are already operating in Gaza on specially identified missions, the plans are in place for a full incursion. The military appears ready, but what’s becoming clear here is the hostages being held in Gaza are a real problem for the government.’
 
The Standard reports that Major General Michael Edelstein, a commander working with the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) Southern Command, said that Israel has “evidence of Iranian involvement” in the October 7 attack that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and saw more than 200 taken hostage.
 
Colonel Richard Kemp, for the Telegraph, writes about the threat of a multi-front conflict, stating “I have spoken to commanders and soldiers on the Gaza border in the last few days; they are clearly ready to attack when the orders are given. But despite impatience in the media and among the Israeli population, there are many more factors beyond just the readiness of the troops. Not least the prospect of fighting a multi-front war.”
 
The Times and the Telegraph also cover the torment of Israeli forensics teams working to identify maimed bodies of victims from the October 7 attacks. Gilad Behat, the chief superintendent of the Israeli police’s investigations, said “I’ve been in the police service for more than 27 years. I have been to a lot of terror attack scenes. I’ve seen a lot in my life, many bodies, but never have I seen such sights”.

Kan Radio features the UN’s warning that Gaza’s fuel will run out tonight unless more supply is received. In response, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “Fuel isn’t going to enter Gaza. Hamas needs the fuel for its operations—fuel Hamas stole from UNRWA. It should be taken back from Hamas and returned to the hospitals.” Maariv also features the IDF releasing satellite images of a huge fuel depot that Hamas maintains in the southern Gaza Strip. Hagari also repeated his call for residents of the northern part of the Strip to move southward. “Go south, past Wadi Gaza. There, an area is being built and humanitarian conditions and efforts are underway to allow you to subsist: water, food and medicines.” Ynet reports the IDF saying today that Hamas has set up roadblocks to prevent northern Gazans following the Israeli guidance to move south.
 
Much of the Israeli media focusses on remarks by former Hamas hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, released by the terrorist organisation on Monday. Lifshitz, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, said “I went through a hell that we’d never imagined. They [Hamas terrorists] rampaged through the kibbutz.” Transported by motorcycle, she was beaten with sticks, “not breaking my ribs” but “hurting me badly and making it hard for me to breathe.” Controversy has raged in Israel after Lifshitz also said that once in Gaza, Hamas “were very friendly to us. They took care of all of our needs; this must be said to their credit. We ate what they did.” Asking “How is it possible that no individual or official spokesperson came to manage an event like this prior to such an impromptu live press conference,” Ynet’s Ran Boker demands greater oversight over media appearances by released hostages: “I call on officials in Israel to issue explicit directives regarding communication with Israeli captives following their release and to prevent the next public relations disaster immediately. This is an arena in which we can’t afford to lose.” Army Radio noted that her comments could be attributed to threats made by Hamas against her husband still held in captivity.   
 
Haaretz quotes the Lifshitz’s grandson Daniel, paying tribute to Yocheved and her husband Oded, also kidnapped, but not released. “They are human rights activists, peace activists for all their life,” he said. “For more than a decade, they took… sick Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, not from the West Bank, from the Gaza Strip every week from the Erez border to the hospitals in Israel to get treatment for their disease, for cancer, for anything.”
 
Yediot Ahronot’s Nahum Barnea, a close friend of Oded from their days in a military reserve unit writes: “Lifshitz is a strong and brave woman… She tapped into her courage when she went to establish a kibbutz on the border, raised four wonderful children, persevered there during the difficult years and believed in good. As she is wont to do,” Barnea continues, “Yocheved told the truth. She didn’t cut corners and she didn’t let anyone off the hook. She spoke about the government that had forsaken her kibbutz to Hamas; she spoke about the hell that she suffered at the hands of her captors; and she spoke about the decent treatment she received from Hamas in the days that followed. She wanted to speak, and speak she did.”
 
Maariv’s Ben Caspit focusses on similar questions, and criticises the media procedures and the work of Gal Hirsch, the Israeli official tasked with coordinating the response to the hostage situation. “The only thing we have to do today with Yocheved Lifshitz is to embrace her and ask her forgiveness,” he writes. “One need not be a genius to figure out that an 85-year-old woman in poor health returning from two weeks in Hamas captivity would become the focal point of international attention the moment she was released. One need not be a great genius to understand that this event needs to be managed, and that in an event like this it is important to exert control. This event was neither managed nor controlled, exactly like the harrowing event that opened the gates of hell for us on October 7, and just like the entire country—which is neither managed nor controlled by any governmental body at the current time. Thankfully for us, we have an astounding society here, amazing civilians and protest organisations that were prepared to help us all survive. Where was the coordinator for the captives and missing while Lifshitz was being interviewed? I don’t know. I do know where he wasn’t. Turns out that Gal Hirsch hadn’t spoken to Lifshitz at all since her release. According to sources close to him, ‘he had already moved on to the next event.’ He didn’t understand that before you move on to the next event you’ve got to finish up the event that is still under way.”
 
Maariv reports the IDF publicly appealing to Gazan residents to provide any information they have on the whereabouts of hostages. A leaflet dropped from the air read: ““If you want to live in peace and to have a better future for your children, do the humanitarian thing immediately and share verified and valuable information about hostages that are being held in your area,” read leaflets that were dropped on the Gaza Strip. “The Israeli army promises you that a maximum effort will be invested to provide you and your household with security, and you will receive a financial reward. We promise full secrecy.”