UNITED NATIONS: Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed.
“Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” Sharabi asked.
He challenged the UN’s most powerful body: “If you stand for humanity prove it” by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead.
The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with UN emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day, and an occasional dry date, he said.
When he was released on Feb. 8, Sharabi said he weighed 44 kilos (about 97 pounds) — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter in Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, along with about 1,200 others. He was among 251 people taken hostage.
The United States in November vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of the hostages.
The Palestinians and their supporters then went to the 193-member General Assembly, which adopted a resolution in December demanding a ceasefire and reiterating its demand for the release of the hostages. Unlike Security Council resolutions, though, those passed by the General Assembly are nonbinding.
The ceasefire that went into effect in January was shattered on Tuesday with surprise airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the highest death tolls in the nearly 18-month war. Gaza’s Health Ministry said most victims were women and children.
Sharabi’s appearance before the council, the second by a freed hostage, followed an Israeli request last week for a meeting on the plight of the hostages.
Britain’s deputy ambassador James Kariuki called Sharabi’s suffering “beyond the imagination” and said “Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions.”
But Kariuki also said the UK condemns Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza.” Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.
France’s new UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, expressed his country’s deepest condolences to Sharabi but also condemned the resumption of Israel’s bombing, saying it will not ensure the release of hostages, and demanded an end to Israel’s humanitarian blockade of Gaza.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council, “Our hearts were filled with sorrow as we listened to the tragic story of Mr. Eli Sharabi,” adding “such brutality can have no justification.”
Polyansky criticized Israel’s leaders for not moving to phase 2 of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all hostages and a permanent end to the fighting. He said it’s difficult to discuss the future when Israel’s military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favor of war.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, representing the Arab world on the council, called Sharabi a “representative of civil society,” and said “no civilian, irrespective of their background, should endure suffering.”
He then accused Israel of “cherry-picking” international law. He pointed to Israel’s ban on humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity entering Gaza since March 2, its killing of civilians, and the cutoff of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ access to over 9,500 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7.
After all council members spoke, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, sent “our condolences” to Sharabi over the killing of his loved ones and his prolonged captivity. He said Palestinians “understand this pain because we live it.”
Sharabi made no mention of Israeli actions, except to say that on the morning of Oct. 7, when he heard that militants were inside Kibbutz Be’eri where he lived, he reassured his wife not to worry: “The army will come, they always come.” That morning, they never came.
He told the council he came to speak for 24-year-old Alon Ohel, a fellow hostage whom he left behind in the tunnel, and all others, including his older brother, Yossi, who was killed but whose body remains in Gaza.
“Bring them all home. Now!” Sharabi said.

ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkiye would not tolerate street violence or public disruptions after the detention of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu prompted some of the biggest shows of civil disobedience in more than a decade.
“We will not accept the disruption of public order. Just as we have never yielded to street terrorism, we will not surrender to vandalism,” Erdogan, 71, told an audience in the capital Ankara.
The warning came after thousands of people protested for two days in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, including at university campuses, leading to some clashes. Police used water cannon to disperse some crowds and have closed down streets.
More demonstrations are planned later on Friday and tensions could rise at the weekend when a court is expected to rule to formally arrest Imamoglu, Erdogan’s main political rival who leads him in some opinion polls.
An arrest could also accelerate a three-day selloff in Turkish assets that prompted the central bank to intervene to protect the currency.
Imamoglu, 54, was detained on Wednesday facing charges including graft and aiding a terrorist group. His Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition, condemned the move as politically motivated and urged supporters to demonstrate lawfully.
European leaders have called the detention a sign of democratic backsliding in Turkiye.
Erdogan said it was “a dead end” to take to the streets. “Pointing to the streets instead of the courts to defend theft, looting, illegality, and fraud is gravely irresponsible,” he said.
Authorities imposed a four-day ban after the detention and said that 53 people were detained during protests on Thursday.

CRACKDOWN AND PROTESTS
Turkiye has curbed civil disobedience since nationwide 2013 Gezi Park protests against the government which prompted a violent state crackdown seen as one of the main pivots toward autocracy under Erdogan’s 22-year reign.
The detention of Imamoglu, the two-term mayor of Turkiye’s largest city, caps a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures that critics say is designed to undermine their electoral prospects.
The government denies the charges and says the judiciary is independent.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has said Erdogan fears street protests, called the bans on demonstrations illegal, and has urged people to demonstrate peacefully in defense of their voting rights.
“Break down those barricades without harming the police, take to the streets and squares,” he said.
On Sunday, the CHP is set to announce Imamoglu as its presidential candidate for the next elections and the party has called for non-party members to vote to boost public resistance.
The next election is set for 2028 but, if Erdogan will be elegible to run again, parliament must schedule them earlier.
Seeking to avoid further legal hurdles, Ozel said the CHP would convene an extraordinary congress on April 6 to prevent authorities from appointing an outside trustee to the party. An Ankara prosecutor had opened an earlier probe into alleged irregularities around its last congress in 2023.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT
Turkish financial markets reacted sharply to the detention with investors worries about eroding rule of law, with the lira and bonds tumbling and Istanbul shares down 8 percent on Friday.
The central bank raised its overnight rate unexpectedly and spent about $10 billion in foreign reserves on Wednesday to stabilize the currency, which plunged by 12 percent to an all-time low that day. Inflation was 39 percent last month.
In an interview with Reuters, Ozel said the CHP would resist any attempts to remove him and other party officials from the municipal offices where they have been staying since Imamoglu’s detention, and where protests are centered.
A government appointee could replace the mayor due to the charges against him, which include aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Imamoglu’s detention also followed the annulment of his university degree, which, if upheld, would block him from running for president under constitutional rules requiring candidates to hold a four-year degree.