This week, we would like to highlight concerns for the remaining hostages and pray for their deliverance.
We have been praying for the hostages since 7 October 2023. This week we received the heartbreaking news that the bodies of two of the hostages of the same family were discovered by the IDF in an underground tunnel in Gaza. They were Youssef Ziyadne, 53, and his son Hamza Ziyadne, 22. They were members of a Israeli Bedouin-family. Two siblings, Bilal, 18, and Aisha, 17, were returned safely in November 2023 as part of a hostage deal.
The remaining hostages have now been in captivity for 462 days. As of 8 January, 98 hostages remain, although it is unclear how many are alive. 94 of these were kidnapped on 7 October 2023, and the other four are Israelis kidnapped prior.
Please pray for all of the hostages – for their health, their well-being, and of course for their release or rescue. Countries around the world should be putting as much pressure on Hamas as possible. Pray that the UK government will do more. Britain has a citizen, Emily Demari, who is among the hostages in Gaza. Pray that Britain will do everything possible on her behalf and on behalf of them all.
Hamas does not deserve any leniency. So it is unbelievable that this week Hamas was caused to thank Ireland and welcome the Irish government’s decision to join South Africa in their antisemitic-driven claims against Israel at the ICJ. Pray that the Irish government will change their decision to take legal action against Israel and that their hope to redefine genocide in an attempt to demonise the Jewish state will utterly fail.
Away from Gaza, it is important to be aware that there is an Israeli hostage in Iraq. Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli doctoral student, was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023 while conducting research for her Princeton University studies. It is believed she is held by Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian militia. Although Israel doesn’t have diplomatic ties with Iraq, Israeli officials are hopeful that shifting regional dynamics in the wake of the war with Hamas and the upcoming inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on 20 January will prompt the Iraqi government to resolve the case. Let us pray for her release.
“I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light. ‘ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.”
Isaiah 49:9
