A throng of protesters chanted slogans as Vice President JD Vance thanked National Guard and police at Union Station in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Vance praised law enforcement and said that violent crime had dropped by 35% in the nine days since President Donald Trump ordered the crackdown. The vice president appeared alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, each of whom remarked on the shouting protesters.

Over the past several years, Vance described Union Station as having vagrants, drug addicts, ‘chronically homeless’ people and the mentally ill threatening violence and attacking families in the public transportation hub. 

‘I think you hear these guys outside here screaming at us. Of course, these are a bunch of crazy protesters. But I’ll tell you, a couple of years ago, when I brought my kids here, they were screamed at by violent vagrants. And it scared the hell out of my kids,’ Vance said. 

‘I know that we’ve traded now, some violent, crazy people who are screaming at kids with a few crazy liberals who are screaming at the vice president. But I think that’s a very worthwhile trade to make, because we want our people to be able to enjoy our beautiful cities,’ Vance continued. ‘This is your city. You should feel free to come and visit here.’ 

Vance also clashed with a reporter who asked if he had evidence of Washington’s crime problem. 

‘You just have to look around – obviously D.C. has a terrible crime problem,’ he said, pointing to how Department of Justice and FBI statistics ‘back it up.’ 

‘Just talk to a resident of this city, this beautiful, great American city,’ Vance said. ‘We hear these people outside screaming ‘Free D.C.’ Let’s free D.C. from lawlessness.’

‘It is kind of bizarre we have a bunch of old, primarily White people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they have never felt danger in their entire lives,’ the vice president added. 

Miller was even more blunt, describing many of the protesters as ‘elderly’ and ‘over 90 years old.’

‘We’re not going to let communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital,’ Miller said, deriding the protesters as ‘stupid White hippies.’

‘For too long, 99% of this city has been terrorized by 1% of this city,’ Miller said. ‘And the voices that you hear out there, these crazy communists, they have no connection to the city. They have no families. They weren’t raised in this city. They have no one that they’re sending to school in this city. They have no jobs in this city. They have no connections to this community at all. They’re the ones who’ve been advocating for the 1%. The criminals, the killers, the rapists, the drug dealers.’

The Trump administration’s crackdown on violent crime in D.C. has already netted hundreds of arrests. The show of force has swept up gang members, robbery suspects and immigration violators. On Friday alone, 52 people were arrested, including 28 illegal immigrants, while three guns were seized.

Federal teams have also cleared dozens of homeless encampments, and officials said those removals were carried out without confrontations or arrests.

The operation began quietly on Aug. 7 with the launch of the ‘Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful’ task force created by Trump in March through an executive order. 

He escalated it on Aug. 11 by temporarily seizing federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under emergency powers in the Home Rule Act, the first such move in U.S. history.

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a transformation of the agency Wednesday that will cut the ‘bloated’ ODNI by more than 40% by the end of the year and save taxpayers more than $700 million annually, all while executing its core national security and intelligence mission ‘in the most agile, effective, and efficient way.’

Gabbard, on Wednesday, announced what she described as a ‘long-overdue’ transformation, that will refocus ODNI and eliminate offices that were involved in the politicization of intelligence. 

‘Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,’ Gabbard said. ‘ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policymakers. Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people’s trust which has long been eroded.’

Gabbard said that ‘under President Trump’s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.’ 

ODNI was first created after the 9/11 terror attacks and exposed systemic failures across the intelligence community. ODNI’s purpose was to integrate intelligence from and provide oversight over all intelligence community elements in order to ensure the intelligence provided to the president and policymakers was ‘timely, accurate, and apolitical.’

‘Unfortunately, two decades later, ODNI has fallen short in fulfilling its mandate,’ an ODNI spokesperson said.

ODNI 2.0 is set to eliminate ‘redundant missions, functions and personnel,’ and is set to make ‘critical investments’ in areas that support Trump’s national intelligence priorities.

ODNI officials said that ODNI 2.0 will focus on rebuilding trust, exposing politicization and weaponization of intelligence, holding bad actors accountable, saving American tax dollars, and focusing on their ‘core mission,’ which is to protect ‘the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.’

As part of the effort, Gabbard is closing ODNI’s Reston Campus and moving the National Intelligence Council to the main ODNI campus, which will ensure the all essential intelligence functions are kept ‘under one roof,’ which officials say will ‘enable savings,’ and will ensure ‘greater efficiency and oversight, and integration across the ODNI and IC.’

Gabbard is also leading intelligence community-wide reforms for ‘efficient and effective operations.’ Gabbard is expected to issue guidance to create a streamlined contracting authority for companies that pursue emerging technologies, and that are already approved for business with the IC to provide services quickly.

Gabbard is also leading an IC-wide effort to ‘rebalance and optimize’ its civilian and contractor workforce to ‘reduce bloat, increase analytic capability, remove stovepipes, eradicate politicization and analytic bias, accelerate information sharing, and increase efficiency to ensure mission success,’ officials said.

Meanwhile, Gabbard has also ended non-merit-based recruitment of intelligence community professionals.

As for ODNI components, the National Counterterrorism Center is building capability to increase two-way information sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement to secure borders and communities.

As for the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Gabbard is calling for a renewed focus on security clearance reform, deterring counterintelligence threats, and oversight of investigations and probes of unauthorized leaks of classified information.

A Russian drone may have crashed in a field in Poland, a move the country’s deputy prime minister called a ‘provocation,’ as the United States and European leaders continue to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. 

The drone hit a cornfield in the village of Osiny in the eastern Lublin province, about 62 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine, Reuters reported. 

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as defense minister, said Wednesday’s incident was similar to cases in which Russian drones flew into Lithuania and Romania, and could be linked to efforts to end the war in Ukraine, according to the outlet. 

‘Once again, we are dealing with a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone. We are dealing with it in a crucial moment, when discussions about peace (in Ukraine) are underway,’ Kosiniak-Kamysz told journalists.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Reuters that some experts have suggested a Russian version of the Shahed drone developed by Iran was involved in the latest incident.

Polish Gen. Dariusz Malinowski said the drone had a Chinese engine and appeared to be a decoy that was designed to self-destruct.

The blast shattered windows in several homes, but nobody was injured, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

Police recovered burnt metal and plastic debris at the site.

‘I was sitting in my room at night, around midnight, maybe, and I heard something just bang,’ local resident Pawel Sudowski told local news website Lukow.tv. ‘It exploded so loudly that the whole house simply shook.’

On X, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said his ministry would issue a protest against the airspace violation, without naming the perpetrator. 

‘Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland’s most important mission towards NATO is the defence (sic) of our own territory,’ he wrote. 

The incident came as the Trump administration continues to broker talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the bloody three-year conflict. On Monday, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European leaders at the White House.

On Friday he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. 

A Russian drone may have crashed in a field in Poland, a move the country’s deputy prime minister called a ‘provocation’ as the United States and European leaders continue to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. 

The drone hit a cornfield in the village of Osiny in the eastern Lublin province, about 62 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine, Reuters reported. 

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as defense minister, said Wednesday’s incident was similar to cases in which Russian drones flew into Lithuania and Romania and could be linked to efforts to end the war in Ukraine, according to the outlet. 

‘Once again, we are dealing with a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone. We are dealing with it in a crucial moment, when discussions about peace (in Ukraine) are underway,’ Kosiniak-Kamysz told journalists.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Reuters some experts have suggested a Russian version of the Shahed drone developed by Iran was involved in the latest incident.

Polish Gen. Dariusz Malinowski said the drone had a Chinese engine and appeared to be a decoy that was designed to self-destruct.

The blast shattered windows in several homes, but nobody was injured, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

Police recovered burnt metal and plastic debris at the site.

‘I was sitting in my room at night, around midnight, maybe, and I heard something just bang,’ local resident Pawel Sudowski told local news website Lukow.tv. ‘It exploded so loudly that the whole house simply shook.’

On X, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said his ministry would issue a protest against the airspace violation without naming the perpetrator. 

‘Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland’s most important mission towards NATO is the defence (sic) of our own territory,’ he wrote. 

The incident came as the Trump administration continues to broker talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the bloody three-year conflict. On Monday, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a group of European leaders at the White House.

On Friday, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. 

The NATO Chiefs of Defense reaffirmed support for Ukraine in a virtual meeting Wednesday in Brussels that included all 32 allied military leaders and featured the first briefing in this format led by U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the new Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine attended the meeting virtually, along with Grynkewich, who also leads U.S. European Command, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday.

NATO officials said in a statement that the ‘candid discussion’ centered on what security guarantees the alliance might provide Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement to end Russia’s three-year war.

Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesperson for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, wrote on X that ‘the Supreme Allied Commander was honored to brief the Chiefs of Defense, his first in such a format. As he has said before, ‘these are consequential times.”

‘NATO has faced important times before — and these have only made our Alliance stronger. As we work through these important issues, we will all stay informed, engaged, and united in the defense of the Euro-Atlantic region and with NATO’s ongoing support to Ukraine as progress towards peace continues,’ he added.

The Chair of NATO’s Military Committee also praised the discussions, writing on X that it was a ‘great, candid discussion among NATO Chiefs of Defence’ and an ‘excellent update on the security environment from our new SACEUR, his first with us.’

The chair added that the meeting confirmed support for Ukraine, emphasizing the alliance’s focus on a ‘just, credible and durable peace’ and praising the ‘relentless courage’ of Ukrainian forces.

According to the Associated Press, assurances that Ukraine won’t face another invasion are seen as central to any settlement, with Kyiv pressing for Western-backed military commitments, including weapons and training. European allies are working on options for a multinational security force that could backstop a peace deal.

Wednesday’s virtual session unfolded against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s push to steer Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toward a settlement. Trump met with Putin last Friday in Alaska and hosted Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday. 

The reaffirmations come a day after Caine convened a smaller meeting in Washington with defense chiefs from Germany, the U.K., France, Finland and Italy to prepare for Wednesday’s broader NATO discussions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized NATO discussions on Ukraine’s security conducted without Moscow’s involvement, warning that ‘this will not work’ and vowing Russia would ‘ensure its legitimate interests firmly and harshly,’ RIA Novosti reported, according to AP.

The White House did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Trump-aligned legal group founded by White House aide Stephen Miller filed Freedom of Information Act requests Thursday targeting a Biden organ transplant program that critics warn could be open to abuse.

The requests from America First Legal went to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. At issue is the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model, a six-year mandatory program finalized in December 2024 and set to take effect in July 2025, which aims to expand access to kidney transplants but has drawn criticism from Trump officials who warn it may be vulnerable to outside influence.

The model builds on earlier payment experiments, testing whether financial rewards and penalties can improve care and expand access for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Trump officials and allies, including America First Legal, argue the system risks distortion by outside interests — a charge that prompted AFL’s FOIA requests as part of a broader investigation.

They cited in part recent findings from an HRSA-led probe published earlier this year. That investigation suggested third-party groups or for-profit organizations ‘may have unduly influenced the IOTA Model’— though their exact role or the extent they may have done so is unclear.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also cited concerns from the study, which the department said in a statement ‘revealed clear negligence and disturbing practices’ by a large organ procurement organization in the U.S., prompting him to launch a new reform initiative.

In previewing the FOIA requests to Fox News Digital, AFL cited related concerns about patient safety, ethical misconduct, and discrimination in organ allocation, among other things.

The requests ask HHS, CMS and HRSA for a long list of information regarding the program and related correspondence — including emails, letters and memos between agency personnel and third-party representatives about the development or implementation of the IOTA Model. They also seek meeting records, agendas and summaries of discussions involving agency staff and outside officials.

The payment model will affect more than 100 U.S. transplant hospitals over six years, imposing mandatory financial incentives and penalties tied to a final performance score.

IOTA was touted as a way to help increase access to organ donors and transplants in the U.S. and help address the long waiting list of patients awaiting a transplant, which as of last fall stood at roughly 90,000 people.

Participating hospitals are evaluated for their performance in three key areas, according to CMS’s final rule, which took force in July, including the volume of kidney transplants, their matching efficiency, and post-transplant outcomes of their patients. But the role outside groups have played, including during the process of drafting the final rule, has prompted criticism and calls for additional scrutiny from Trump allies, including AFL. 

Self-interested third parties should play no role in shaping America’s organ transplant policy,’ AFL counsel Laura Stell told Fox News Digital in a statement previewing the FOIA requests and broader investigation.

‘Where monetary incentives and penalties come into play, there must be utmost certainty that CMS developed the program without influence from entities with improper motives.’

America First Legal, though not officially part of the Trump administration, was founded by longtime Trump adviser Stephen Miller after Trump’s first presidential term. 

Miller stepped down from AFL before rejoining the White House in 2025 as Trump’s deputy chief of staff. 

Andrew Roth, president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, helms an organization fighting to help conservatives win and wield control of state governments across the nation.

‘There is a swamp in all 50 states. There are 50 swamps,’ Roth told Fox News Digital during a Tuesday interview, noting that ‘liberal Republicans’ join with Democrats to expand government.

This ‘uniparty’ phenomenon exists in the U.S. Congress and in every state, Roth indicated, asserting that in red states many Democrats cannot win elections unless they don the Republican label.

‘They say they’re good on guns, and babies, and a few other things, but then they get in there, and they vote like liberals, growing government[.] ‘ Roth noted. 

He said that while the goal of state freedom caucuses is to slash taxes and government, the first step is exposing ‘deceitful lawmakers for who they are. And then once you can do that, then you can hopefully start getting good people elected and then cut the budget, cut taxes, cut spending,’ he explained.

So far, the organization boasts freedom caucuses in 13 of the 50 states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and Idaho – but deep red states like Texas and Florida are conspicuously absent from the list. 

Asked whether this is because there are not enough conservative legislators in those states to form a freedom caucus, Roth replied, ‘That’s absolutely correct,’ explaining, ‘In Texas I could probably say there’s only one or two House members, and in Florida I’m not even sure I can say two.’

There are ‘zero’ conservative state lawmakers in the Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi state legislatures, he said.

‘This is a big, big problem’ he noted, ‘and I don’t think enough people realize how bad it is.’

Roth indicated that the organization provides a state director in each freedom caucus state – those directors help read legislation, offer vote recommendations, work with other groups, and help with organizing and strategizing, he explained.

Roth noted that Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez, a Republican who belongs to that state’s freedom caucus, is challenging incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. 

House GOP allies of President Donald Trump are nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize amid his ongoing efforts to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is spearheading a letter to the Nobel Committee on Tuesday alongside Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind. 

Their nomination hails Trump as a peacemaker on several fronts, the most recent being his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and subsequent meeting with European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

‘We respectfully submit this nomination of President Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his concrete contributions to international fraternity, his leadership in reducing conflict and the risk of war, and his commitment to fostering dialogue as a path toward reconciliation,’ Ogles and Stutzman wrote. 

‘His decisive leadership in securing landmark diplomatic agreements, de-escalating global conflicts, and actively pursuing peaceful resolutions to some of the world’s most entrenched disputes has led and continues to lead to a more peaceful world.’

Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday, the first time the Russian Federation leader spoke face-to-face with a U.S. president since the pair previously sat down together during Trump’s first term. Both sides described the meeting in positive terms.

It was followed by an extraordinary gathering at the White House on Monday with Zelenskyy and other leaders, where Trump pledged Ukraine would have ‘a lot of help’ for security, while specifying that Europe would be Kyiv’s ‘first line of defense.’

Trump said on Truth Social later that he spoke with Putin at the conclusion of that meeting and ‘began arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy.’

House Republicans’ nominating letter noted Trump’s move in ‘hosting a high-stakes summit with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, 2025, focused on establishing a path towards a Ukraine ceasefire, prisoner exchanges, humanitarian corridors, and future security arrangements—a significant step in reopening direct, constructive dialogue.’

It also lauded him for ‘hosting a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and numerous other European leaders on August 18, 2025, to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and facilitating a discussion between Presidents Zelenskyy and Putin to bring about a just and lasting peace in the region.’

Russia invaded Ukraine in a bid to take over the ex-Soviet territory-turned-sovereign state in February 2022. 

Both countries have been locked in a bloody war that has taken thousands of lives, including heavy civilian casualties in Ukraine from Russia’s attacks on non-military targets.

Trump has argued multiple times that Moscow would not have invaded if he were president at the time.

Putin, along similar but not identical lines, said Friday that he believed there would have been no war if Trump was president at the time.

In addition to dealing with his efforts to resolve the Eastern European conflict, Ogles and Stutzman’s letter also lauded Trump for brokering a historic peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ‘engaging directly with regional leaders on the Gaza conflict,’ along with peace agreements struck during his first term, such as the Abraham Accords.

‘Because of President Trump’s leadership, more people are alive today, and there are fewer wars in the world than before,’ Ogles told Fox News Digital.

‘He is a champion of America First statesmanship, proving that strength and prudence—not globalism—are the keys to lasting U.S. foreign policy. No other world leader can claim to have halted wars and begun resolving centuries-old disputes.’

Stutzman, calling Trump ‘the president of peace,’ added, ‘There is no one on the planet more deserving of this year’s Nobel Prize and multiple world leaders have recognized that.’

After Monday’s White House meetings between President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, the question remains: is Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to sit down face-to-face with the Ukrainian leader — and on what terms?

Trump said he had personally called Putin to begin arranging a meeting. The Kremlin, by contrast, offered a more ambiguous response, acknowledging the idea had surfaced but refusing to confirm whether Moscow would accept.

For Putin, any such encounter would carry more weight as theater than diplomacy. ‘Putin would not like to meet Zelensky because he does not even recognize Ukrainian sovereignty,’ Ivana Stradner, Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. ‘The only way that he can be in the room with Zelensky is if Trump facilitates, because Putin wants to show that Russia is equal to the United States… We are giving him that pleasure to feed his population about so-called Russian greatness.’

Ambassador Kurt Volker, who served as U.S. envoy to Ukraine in the first Trump administration, agreed that the Kremlin is unlikely to budge without concessions. ‘Putin is unlikely to accept such a meeting if his pre-conditions are not met,’ he said.

Those conditions are formidable. The Kremlin has already rejected NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, while Zelenskyy and European leaders have ruled out surrendering territory. Stradner warned that Putin’s strategy is to test the West’s resolve. ‘Eventually, Putin would challenge Western soldiers on the ground,’ Stradner said. ‘I doubt, as things are today, that any of the Western nations, except maybe the Baltic States or Poland, would be willing to send their kids to die for Ukraine. And Putin knows this.’

The Russian leader, she added, has been emboldened by weak Western responses in the past. She pointed to the 2023 clashes in Kosovo, when ethnic Serbians attacked NATO peacekeepers, injuring 90. ‘What did NATO do? Nothing,’ Stradner said. ‘That was round one. And round two is on the horizon.’

Volker, however, struck a more pragmatic tone. He noted that while Putin may posture at the negotiating table, Russia is grappling with battlefield supply line disruptions and a faltering economy. ‘The real issue will be what happens to Russian supply lines, increasingly targeted by Ukraine, and the Russian economy, which is faltering,’ Volker said. ‘I still expect Putin to go along with a ceasefire in place by the end of the year.’

The White House has tried to box Putin in, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisting Tuesday that ‘he has’ agreed to the meeting. ‘Both leaders have expressed a willingness to sit down with each other,’ she said. Still, analysts caution that Moscow’s word is far from binding.

Russia’s foreign minister signaled that a summit was not impossible, but hedged that ‘any contacts involving top officials should be prepared very carefully.’ He also reiterated longstanding Kremlin demands that Kyiv roll back laws Moscow claims limit the rights of Russian speakers.

Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a meeting would mark a shift but not a breakthrough. ‘So far there’s no clarity, at least in the public space, that the Kremlin is serious about meeting,’ she told Fox News Digital. ‘Even if it still would not necessarily get us closer to an actual agreement, it would signal some willingness toward not trying to avoid provoking or annoying President Trump.’

Snegovaya added that Putin’s calculus is rooted in caution. ‘For over 25 years of his rule, Putin generally avoids attacking a stronger side. He usually goes after the weaker party… Georgia, Syria, Chechnya. I think he would be cautious about going after the will of the European allies, especially if a strong retaliation is promised.’

Putin’s ‘fear’ of Trump may be the last lifeline to end the war, according to Stradner. 

‘He does not trust Europe, he does not respect Europe. When it comes to the US, he despises the United States, but he fears Trump, because Trump is an unpredictable leader, and that’s that’s a nightmare for Putin.’

Israel took out a terrorist during an airstrike earlier this month who was involved in the abduction of an Israeli man on Oct. 7, 2023, authorities said Tuesday. 

The strike, which occurred in Gaza on Aug. 10, killed Jihad Kamal Salem Najjar, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, announced. 

‘A small part of my closure happened today. Thank you to the IDF, the Shin Bet, and everyone who took part in the elimination of one of the terrorists who kidnapped me on October 7,’ Yarden Bibas said in a statement provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. ‘Thanks to you, he will not be able to harm anyone else.

‘Please take care of yourselves, heroes. I am waiting for full closure with the return of my friends David and Ariel, and the remaining 48 hostages,’ he added. 

Najjar was involved in the invasion of the Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit during the deadly Oct. 7 attacks, where Bibas was kidnapped. Bibas’ family was kidnapped separately and was eventually murdered while in captivity. 

He spent 480 days as a hostage before he was released in January. His wife, Shiri, and their two young children, Ariel and Kfir, were killed before their bodies were returned to Israel. 

While in captivity, Bibas was forced to make a hostage film in which he was seen breaking down as Hamas claimed his wife and children had been killed. 

Hamas often uses hostage videos as part of what the IDF calls ‘psychological terror.’

Upon his release, Bibas’ family said that ‘a quarter of our heart has returned to us after 15 long months. … Yarden has returned home, but the home remains incomplete.’

In the aftermath of Hamas’ attack, the Bibas family became a symbol of the terror group’s cruelty. Video footage of Shiri Bibas holding her two red-headed children in her arms went viral across the globe. 

In April, Israel said it had killed Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Awad, a senior commander in the Palestinian Mujahideen terrorist organization and who helped lead ‘several’ attacks on the Nir Oz kibbutz.