soldier

The body of a hostage returned by Hamas via the Red Cross in Gaza has been identified as Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, Israel has confirmed.

The 19-year-old soldier’s remains were returned on Tuesday as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump last month.

“Following the completion of the identification process… IDF representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and positively identified,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

Earlier, Hamas’s military wing said it had recovered the body of an Israeli soldier in the eastern Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Israel had allowed members of the group and Red Cross staff to search for the remains in the area, which is inside territory still controlled by Israeli forces.

Chen was working at his base on the Gaza border when Hamas and its allies launched their attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

His family lost communication with him after he told them his base was under attack.

Chen was initially believed to have been taken hostage by jihadists was actually killed in the 7 October attacks, the Israeli military said in March 2024. It said he had died in combat and his body had been taken to Gaza.

The Israeli government has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages since a US-brokered ceasefire deal took effect on 10 October.

Hamas has insisted it is difficult to locate the bodies under rubble.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was still holding within 72 hours.

All the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 270 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 19 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages – one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

Five of the seven dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.

All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,800 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, a hospital official in Gaza City said a man was killed by Israeli fire in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said its troops killed a “terrorist” who had crossed the “Yellow Line”, which demarcates Israeli-controlled territory, and posed a threat to them.

A British soldier charged with murder over the Bloody Sunday massacre has been acquitted by a Belfast court, in a verdict condemned by victims’ relatives and Northern Ireland’s political leader.

The former British paratrooper, known as Soldier F under a court anonymity order, was accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney and attempting to murder five others when soldiers opened fire on unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Derry more than 50 years ago.

Belfast Crown Court was silent on Thursday as Judge Patrick Lynch read the verdict acquitting Soldier F of two charges of murder and five of attempted murder. Soldier F listened to the verdict from behind a thick blue curtain, hidden from view in the packed courtroom.

On January 30, 1972, British paratroopers opened fire on unarmed civil rights protesters as more than 10,000 people marched in Derry. British soldiers shot at least 26 unarmed civilians. Thirteen people were killed, while another man died from his injuries four months later.

The massacre became a pivotal moment in the Troubles, helping to fuel nearly three decades of violence between Irish nationalists seeking civil rights and a united Ireland, pro-British unionists wanting Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom, and the British Army. A 1998 peace deal largely ended the bloodshed.

Lynch said in his verdict that he was satisfied that soldiers had lost all sense of military discipline and opened fire with intent to kill and that “those responsible should hang their heads in shame”.

But he said the case fell short of the burden of proof.

“Delay has, in my view, seriously hampered the capacity of the defence to test the veracity and accuracy of the hearsay statements,” he said.

An initial investigation into the massacre — the Widgery Tribunal, an investigation held in 1972 — largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of responsibility.

A second investigation, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, also known as the Saville Inquiry, found in June 2010 that there had been no justification for any of the shootings and found that paratroopers had fired at fleeing unarmed civilians.

Following the Saville Inquiry, police in Northern Ireland launched a murder investigation, with prosecutors finding that one former soldier would face trial for two murders and five attempted murders.

Prosecutors have previously ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge 16 other former British soldiers.

Soldier F was not called to give evidence during the one-month trial that was heard without a jury. He had previously told investigators he no longer had a reliable recollection of the massacre.

Mickey McKinney, brother of William McKinney, one of the two victims named in the case, denounced the verdict outside the courtroom on Thursday.

“Soldier F has been discharged from the defendant’s criminal dock, but it is one million miles away from being an honourable discharge,” McKinney said. “Soldier F created two young widows on Bloody Sunday, he orphaned 12 children, and he deprived dozens of siblings of a loving brother,”

McKinney said he “firmly” blamed the British government for the trial’s outcome.

“The blame lies firmly with the British state, with the RUC [the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Northern Irish police], who failed to investigate the murders on Bloody Sunday properly, or indeed at all,” McKinney said.

Following Thursday’s verdict, a spokesperson for the UK government said the UK is “committed to finding a way forward that acknowledges the past, whilst supporting those who served their country during an incredibly difficult period in Northern Ireland’s history”.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who is vice president of the Sinn Fein pro-Irish unity party, called the verdict “deeply disappointing”.

“The continued denial of justice for the Bloody Sunday families is deeply disappointing,” she wrote on X. “Not one British soldier or their military and political superiors has ever been held to account. That is an affront to justice.”

The incident is the first alleged defection of a North Korean soldier in more than a year.

South Korea says it has taken a North Korean soldier into custody after he crossed the country’s heavily guarded border.

The soldier crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) that divides the peninsula on Sunday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which said it “tracked and monitored” the soldier before securing him.

South Korea’s military said it would investigate the circumstances of the soldier’s crossing – a relatively rare incident in the mine-strewn border zone between the two nations still technically at war.

South Korean media described the crossing near the central part of the border as a “defection”, with the Chosun Ilbo daily saying the soldier expressed his wish to defect after being approached by a South Korean soldier.

If confirmed, the soldier would join tens of thousands of North Koreans who have fled poverty and repression in North Korea since the peninsula was split by war in the 1950s. Last year, 236 North Koreans arrived in the South, with women accounting for 88 percent of the total.

The last time a soldier from North Korea, which derides defectors as “human scum”, escaped to the South was in August last year.

Most defectors, however, take a different route – escaping across North Korea’s border with China before eventually making their way to the South. Direct crossings between the two Koreas are relatively rare and extremely risky, as the border area is full of mines and well-monitored on both sides.

Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the latest soldier who crossed the border may have been able to navigate the dangerous terrain due to his “likely familiarity with the area”.

“The latest crossing will not be received positively by Pyongyang, as he could provide the South with information on its troop movements and operations in the border area,” the analyst told the AFP news agency.

In July, a North Korean civilian crossed the border by foot in a 20-hour operation aided by the South’s military.

The latest crossing came four months after liberal politician Lee Jae-myung took office as South Korean president, following months of political chaos, which began with the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December.

Lee has taken a different stance from his predecessor on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promising to “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation”.

Diplomatic efforts have stalled on the Korean Peninsula since the collapse of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 during the first United States President Donald Trump administration, after a series of Trump-Kim summits, globally watched spectacles that bore little concrete progress.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appears poised to recognize President Trump’s authority to send soldiers to Portland, Ore., with members of the court signaling receptiveness to an expansive new read of the president’s power to put boots on the ground in American cities.

A three-judge panel from the appellate court — including two members appointed by Trump during his first term — heard oral arguments Thursday after Oregon challenged the legality of the president’s order to deploy hundreds of soldiers to Portland. The administration claims the city has become lawless; Oregon officials argue Trump is manufacturing a crisis to justify calling in the National Guard.

While the court has not issued a decision, a ruling in Trump’s favor would mark a sharp rightward turn for the once-liberal circuit — and probably set up a Supreme Court showdown over why and how the U.S. military can be used domestically.

“I’m sort of trying to figure out how a district court of any nature is supposed to get in and question whether the president’s assessment of ‘executing the laws’ is right or wrong,” said Judge Ryan D. Nelson of Idaho Falls, Idaho, one of the two Trump appointees hearing the arguments.

“That’s an internal decision making, and whether there’s a ton of protests or low protests, they can still have an impact on his ability to execute the laws,” he said.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut of Portland, another Trump appointee, previously called the president’s justification for federalizing Oregon troops “simply untethered to the facts” in her temporary restraining on Oct. 4.

The facts about the situation on the ground in Portland were not in dispute at the hearing on Thursday. The city has remained mostly calm in recent months, with protesters occasionally engaging in brief skirmishes with authorities stationed outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.

Instead, Nelson and Judge Bridget S. Bade of Phoenix, whom Trump once floated as a possible Supreme Court nominee, questioned how much the facts mattered.

“The president gets to direct his resources as he deems fit, and it seems a little counterintuitive to me that the city of Portland can come and say, ‘No you need to do it differently,’” Nelson said.

He also appeared to endorse the Department of Justice’s claim that “penalizing” the president for waiting until protests had calmed to deploy soldiers to quell them created a perverse incentive to act first and ask questions later.

“It just seems like such a tortured reading of the statute,” the judge said. He then referenced the first battle of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, saying, “I’m not sure even President Lincoln would be able to bring in forces when he did, because if he didn’t do it immediately after Fort Sumter, [Oregon’s] argument would be, ‘Oh, things are OK now.’”

Trump’s efforts to use troops to quell protests and support federal immigration operations have led to a growing tangle of legal challenges. The Portland deployment was halted by Immergut, who blocked Trump from federalizing Oregon troops. (A ruling from the same case issued the next day prevents already federalized troops from being deployed.)

In June, a different 9th Circuit panel also made up of two Trump appointees ruled that the president had broad — though not “unreviewable” — discretion to determine whether facts on the ground met the threshold for military response in Los Angeles. Thousands of federalized National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines were deployed over the summer amid widespread protests over immigration enforcement.

The June decision set precedent for how any future deployment in the circuit’s vast territory can be reviewed. It also sparked outrage, both among those who oppose armed soldiers patrolling American streets and those who support them.

Opponents argue repeated domestic deployments shred America’s social fabric and trample protest rights protected by the 1st Amendment. With soldiers called into action so far in Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago, many charge the administration is using the military for political purposes.

“The military should not be acting as a domestic police force in this country except in the most extreme circumstances,” said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. “That set of circumstances is not present right now anywhere in the country, so this is an abuse of power — and a very dangerous one because of the precedent it sets.”

Supporters say the president has sole authority to determine the facts on the ground and if they warrant military intervention. They argue any check by the judicial branch is an illegal power grab, aimed at thwarting response to a legitimate and growing “invasion from within.”

“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles — they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said in an address to military top brass last week. “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”

The 9th Circuit agreed to rehear the Los Angeles case with an 11-member “en banc” panel in Pasadena on Oct. 22, signaling a schism among Trump’s own judges over the boundaries of the president’s power.

Still, Trump’s authority to call soldiers into American cities is only the first piece in a larger legal puzzle spread before the 9th Circuit, experts said.

What federalized troops are allowed to do once deployed is the subject of another court decision now under review. That case could determine whether soldiers are barred from assisting immigration raids, controlling crowds of protesters or any other form of civilian law enforcement.

Trump officials have maintained the president can wield the military as he sees fit — and that cities such as Portland and L.A. would be in danger if soldiers can’t come to the rescue.

“These are violent people, and if at any point we let down our guard, there is a serious risk of ongoing violence,” Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Eric McArthur said. “The president is entitled to say enough is enough and bring in the National Guard.”

A former Israeli soldier has created a video game based on the Gaza war, which he says aims to ‘humanise’ Israeli troops. Scenes from the game’s promo video depict the destruction in Gaza, which rights groups say Israeli soldiers already treat as if it were a video game.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that President Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles amounted to costly political theater, saddling taxpayers with a nearly $120-million bill.

Newsom’s office said the newly revealed price tag was tallied from estimates provided by the California National Guard about costs incurred since June, when Trump sent more than 4,200 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to Los Angeles. That included $71 million for food and other basic necessities, $37 million in payroll, $4 million in logistic supplies, $3.5 million in travel and $1.5 million in demobilization costs, Newsom’s office said.

Most of the soldiers were sent home in August, although 300 remain in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in San Francisco barred soldiers from aiding immigration arrests in a scathing opinion that amounted to a major win for California and other states critical of the Trump administration’s deployments. Newsom filed a preliminary injunction after the ruling asking that the court block a new order from the U.S. Secretary of Defense that extended the deployment of 300 National Guard members in Los Angeles until after the election in November.

“Let us not forget what this political theater is costing us all — millions of taxpayer dollars down the drain and an atrophy to the readiness of guardsmembers across the nation and unnecessary hardships to the families supporting those troops,” Newsom said in a statement. “Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse. We ask other states to do the math themselves.”

In Washington, D.C., where Trump has deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital, city leaders filed a lawsuit earlier this week. That lawsuit said more than 2,200 National Guard troops are in Washington D.C., where they are seen dressed in military fatigues and carrying rifles around national monuments. Soldiers are seen picking up trash, laying down mulch and chatting aimlessly as they patrol.

Trump has warned that he intends to expand his use of military forces in other cities.

The occupied West Bank town’s mayor says Thamin Khalil Reda Dawabsheh killed as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians.

A Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank has been shot dead in an attack instigated by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry as cited by the Wafa news agency.

Thamin Khalil Reda Dawabsheh, 35, was shot Wednesday morning in the town of Duma, south of Nablus, by an Israeli off-duty soldier who was accompanying “an Israeli civilian” near Duma “during engineering works”, the Israeli army said.

Earlier Palestinian reports of the attack had stated that Dawabsheh was killed by an Israeli settler.

35-year-old Thameen Khalil Reda Dawabsheh succumbed to his wounds after being shot by colonists during an attack on the village. pic.twitter.com/cHfdUg4Unl

— WAFA News Agency – English (@WAFANewsEnglish) August 13, 2025

According to the mayor of Duma, Palestinians in the town were “startled” by an Israeli settler attack, said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim.

“The settlers started assaulting a 14-year-old, leading many Palestinian men to go and try to defend him,” Ibrahim said.

Later, more armed settlers arrived, and they started shooting at the Palestinians, resulting in the death of Dawabsheh, “whose only crime was being on his land”, she added.

Suleiman Dawabsheh, the head of the Duma village council, said that settlers attacked Palestinians and opened fire on them in the southern part of the village, amid land-levelling operations that have been taking place in the area for days, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Ibrahim said that Thamin Dawabsheh’s killing is part of a pattern of increased Israeli settler violence against Palestinians that is often filmed on camera.

“Every day, we stumble upon more videos showing how Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians – intimidating them, shooting them, killing them. And they are not being held accountable by the Israeli authorities,” said Ibrahim.

The statement published by the Israeli army claimed dozens of Palestinians were hurling rocks towards the Israeli civilian and soldier, and “in response, the soldier fired to remove the threat, and a hit was identified”.

A deadly pattern of Israeli military, settler attacks

Recently, 31-year-old Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen was shot dead by an Israeli settler on July 28 in the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of Hebron.

Hathaleen was well known for his activism, including helping the creators of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which documents Israeli settler and soldier attacks on the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta.

Israeli settlers, protected by the Israeli military, are often armed and fire at will against Palestinians who try to stop them. They attack residents and burn property with impunity, rarely if ever facing legal consequences.

The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank.

Violent attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank have surged since October 2023, in tandem with Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, with the United Nations reporting that almost 650 Palestinians – including 121 children – have been killed in the territory by Israeli forces and settlers between January 1, 2024 and the start of July 2025.

A further 5,269 Palestinians were injured during that period, including 1,029 children.

Cambodia dismisses Thai army accusation that it breached truce and international law after incident near border.

A Thai soldier has been seriously injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border, days after both countries agreed to a ceasefire following last month’s deadly border clashes.

The soldier’s left ankle was badly damaged on Tuesday after he stepped on the device while patrolling about 1km (0.6 miles) from the Ta Moan Thom Temple in Thailand’s Surin province, the army said. He is receiving treatment in hospital.

Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree said the incident proved Cambodia had breached the truce and violated international agreements, including the Ottawa Convention banning landmines.

“Cambodia continues to covertly plant landmines while the Thai army has consistently adhered to peaceful approaches and has not been the initiating party,” he said.

The statement warned that if violations continued, Thailand might “exercise the right of self-defence under international law principles to resolve situations that cause Thailand to continuously lose personnel due to violations of ceasefire agreements and sovereignty encroachments by Cambodian military forces”.

Phnom Penh dismissed the accusation, insisting it has not laid new mines.

“Cambodia, as a proud and responsible State Party to the Ottawa Convention, maintains an absolute and uncompromising position: we have never used, produced, or deployed new landmines under any circumstances, and we strictly and fully honour our obligations under international law,” the Cambodian Ministry of National Defence said in a social media post.

This is the fourth landmine incident in recent weeks involving Thai soldiers along the two Southeast Asian neighbours’ disputed border. On Saturday, three soldiers were injured in a blast between Thailand’s Sisaket province and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.

Two earlier incidents on July 16 and 23 prompted a downgrade in diplomatic relations and triggered five days of fighting that erupted on July 24.

Those battles, the worst between the neighbours in more than a decade, saw exchanges of artillery fire and air strikes that killed at least 43 people and displaced more than 300,000 on both sides.

Thailand has accused Cambodia of planting mines on its side of the border, which stretches 817km (508 miles), with ownership of the Ta Moan Thom and 11th-century Preah Vihear temples at the heart of the dispute.

The fragile truce has held since last week when both governments agreed to allow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) observers to monitor contested areas to prevent further fighting.

Lee is accused of going online and offering to assist Russian authorities in exchange for Russian citizenship.

An active duty soldier has been charged with seeking to pass sensitive information about the United States Army’s main battle tank to the Russian government, the US Justice Department has announced.

The suspect, Taylor Adam Lee, has been charged with “attempted transmission of national defense information to a foreign adversary and attempted export of controlled technical data without a license”, the Justice Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Lee, a 22-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, has yet to enter a plea in the charges, filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.

John A Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said Lee sought to “transmit sensitive national defense information to Russia” regarding the operation of the M1A2 Abrams – the main battle tank used by the US Army.

In June, Lee is said to have gone online and offered assistance to Russia in exchange for Russian citizenship. In the alleged messages, Lee, who holds a top-secret security clearance, allegedly “transmitted export-controlled technical information” about the M1A2’s operation and vulnerabilities.

“The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” Lee reportedly said. “At this point, I’d even volunteer to assist the Russian Federation when I’m there in any way,” he added.

Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, said Lee then shared a memory card containing documents and information about the tank and other US military operations during an in-person meeting in July with someone he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer.

“Today’s arrest is a message to anyone thinking about betraying the US – especially service members who have sworn to protect our homeland,” Rozhavsky said.

The documents contained technical data Lee was not authorised to provide, with some marked “Controlled Unclassified Information”, according to prosecutors.

“Throughout the meeting, Lee stated that the information on the SD card was sensitive and likely classified,” prosecutors said.

Lee is also alleged to have attempted to provide the Russian government with a piece of hardware from the M1A2 Abrams tank at a July 31 meeting at a storage unit in El Paso, Texas.

“After doing so, Lee sent a message to the individual he believed to be a representative of the Russian government stating, ‘Mission accomplished’,” according to prosecutors.

Police have told residents to stay home and not approach the suspect, who could be ‘armed and dangerous’.

A manhunt is under way for a former United States soldier suspected of carrying out a shooting in a bar in the US state of Montana, which has left four people dead.

The shooting happened on Friday at about 10:30am (16:30 GMT) at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, with four people pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.

The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old military veteran Michael Paul Brown. Brown lived next door to the bar, according to public records and owner David Gwerder.

Gwerder, who was not there at the time of the incident, said a bartender and three patrons were killed before Brown fled the scene.

“He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder said. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.”

Brown’s home in Anaconda – a town of about 9,000 people, located in southwest Montana about 109 miles (175km) west of the city of Bozeman – was cleared by a SWAT team.

Montana Senator Steve Daines said a “massive manhunt” is under way, aided by drones.

Authorities said Brown was last seen in the Stump Town area, just west of Anaconda, and he is “believed to be armed and dangerous”.

He should not be approached if seen, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center said in a social media post, while Anaconda residents have been instructed to stay home and lock their doors.

More than a dozen police officers have converged on Stump Town, locking it down so no one is allowed in or out as police search for Brown in a wooded, mountainous area.

Randy Clark, a retired police officer who lives in the area, said a police helicopter hovered over a nearby mountainside as officers moved among the trees.

A US army spokesperson said Brown served as an armour crewman from 2001 to 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005. Brown was also in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said in a social media post that he was “closely monitoring the situation involving an active shooter in Anaconda”.

Our hearts are with the community of Anaconda, Montana, where four lives were lost in a senseless bar shooting.

Law enforcement is actively searching for the suspect, Michael Paul Brown, who remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous. We stand with the brave officers… pic.twitter.com/nHmlib8D2o

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) August 1, 2025

Sebastia, occupied West Bank – When Israeli military vehicles approach, news of the latest incursion begins cascading through Sebastia from one person to another, and the young people run home as fast as possible.

They try to get back before invading soldiers reach their street, knowing all too well the potentially grave consequences if they don’t.

The warning cries often originate from those walking near the vantage point of Sebastia archaeological park’s scenic summit.

From here, people can spot army vehicles on the roads below before they reach the town and its ancient ruins, giving people a chance to hide their young.

Soon after, walking prevention warnings are often circulated on social media, and the residents of Sebastia – once a religious pilgrimage site and a tourism hotspot – have the choice of hunkering down at home or facing soldiers who no longer show any restraint.

‘He celebrated killing my son’

In January this year, an Israeli soldier shot dead 14-year-old Ahmed Jazar and then raised his rifle in the air triumphantly after hitting the unarmed boy in the chest, piercing his heart.

Witnesses saw the soldier “celebrating” as Ahmed slowly bled to death on the ground, his father, Rashid, aged 57, told Al Jazeera.

Ahmed was mature beyond his years, his parents say, and made caring for his poverty-stricken family his vocation.

He was also a talented painter and wanted to train as a decorator. He aspired to open a shop so he could make enough money to buy his family a permanent home – something better than the overcrowded rental apartment they lived in.

“They shot Ahmed and killed all his dreams, right there and then,” his mother, Wafaa, said.

“The army treats us like we’re in a state of war – but we’ve done nothing.

“Soldiers are here every day, and no one feels their children are safe unless they are at home.”

Ahmed woke up in the early afternoon on the Sunday he was killed, Wafaa and Rashid say, having stayed up late playing with his friends in the neighbourhood the night before. He liked to play football in the schoolyard, cycle near the archaeological park, and eat at the town’s once-busy cafes.

He came back after seeing his friends and spent some time with his family, unaware that they would be sharing their final moments.

Then, as the dinner hour neared, his parents sent Ahmed out to buy bread.

“It was always a habit of his to come and go in this way,” Rashid said. “He was very sociable … everyone loved him.

“But this time, he left and never came back.”

The Israeli soldiers’ frequent raids on occupied West Bank towns prompt some children and young people into acts of defiance, like throwing stones towards the heavily armed soldiers or their armoured vehicles, or shining laser pointers at them.

According to some neighbours, Ahmed and his friends did shine laser pens on the fatal January day, hiding behind a wall near a nursery as some soldiers walked towards them.

His family denies Ahmed’s part in this. Rashid and Wafaa said they were awaiting his return from the shops so they could eat dinner together.

“He was just a child,” Rashid said. “The Israeli soldier knew he was a young boy – and that he was no threat to the army in any way.

“He was hundreds of metres away from them when they shot him!”

The bullet-dented door and facade of the nursery, established by charity Save The Children, still stand as a reminder of what happened when Ahmed was shot dead.

Speaking to Israeli newspaper Haaretz in March, a military spokesperson said: “In the wake of the incident, an investigation was launched by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division. Naturally, we cannot elaborate on an ongoing investigation.”

Palestinians, including residents of Sebastia, say they are used to what they call “sham” investigations that usually have no result, and almost certainly no punishment for perpetrators.

Rashid was contacted by the military to provide information for the investigation into Ahmed’s killing, but he refused.

“They killed my son and then call me to talk about justice?” he said.

Al Jazeera sent written inquiries to Israeli authorities, asking for comment on the investigation into Ahmed’s shooting but no response had been received by time of publication.

The Israeli army often raids cities and towns in the West Bank, but few are targeted like Sebastia, where it has stepped up attacks since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu established his far-right ultranationalist government in late 2022.

Since then, the military killed Fawzi Makhalfeh, aged 19, in July 2023, and Ahmed on January 19 this year.

There have been at least 25 gunshot injuries in Sebastia since Netanyahu’s coalition government came to power, a handful of which involved children. A 22-year-old man from the nearby town of Attil was shot in the chest while driving through Sebastia earlier this month.

Violent settlers also wreak havoc on Palestinian landowners around the town, which is dependent on agriculture and tourism, and yet more settlements, official and unofficial, are set to be built around Sebastia.

Soldiers attack anyone who fights back and circulate threatening messages using residents’ mobile phones. One recording, heard by Al Jazeera, by what is ostensibly an Israeli soldier, accuses townspeople of being “involved in terrorism”, and warns they will “pay the price”.

Justice

Wafaa and her husband sat on either side of a memorial to their slain son in the humble living room of the rented home they can barely afford. Ahmed left behind four brothers and three sisters aged between seven and 20.

Rashid used to work as a painter in Israel, but, like thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, he has been unable to go to work across the border since October 7, contributing to the family’s perilous financial situation.

The eldest son, Rushdi, 19, works as a carpenter intermittently, and, other than Rashid, is the only family member in employment.

Ahmed had dropped out of school, they said, to help his father by doing odd jobs such as painting and olive picking to generate money for the family. Wafaa, who used to make dresses, is also unable to find work and still has five young children dependent on her care.

Two of Ahmed’s remaining siblings, Amir, aged six, and Adam, 11, clung on to their mother as she spoke.

“I sit by Ahmed’s grave and cry for hours,” Wafaa told Al Jazeera, weeks after her son’s killing. “I cry there as much as I can, so that my children don’t see me – I have to be strong for them.”

The 40-year-old was incapable of keeping eye contact, as if tears would overcome her at any moment. She held up Ahmed’s blood-stained clothes, torn by bullets.

After the soldiers left that day, Rashid recalled rushing to the scene and pushing his way through a crowd, only to find Ahmed collapsed in a pool of blood, metres away from where he was shot.

Rashid then drove with Ahmed to An-Najah Hospital in Nablus, but his son did not survive the journey. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

His mother fell unconscious after hearing of Ahmed’s killing, and says she awoke feeling “defeated”, as if her life was over.

She says Israel wants Sebastia residents to feel this way, so they resist no longer and leave.

Rashid, with a vacant expression, said his son’s killing had terrorised his family into staying indoors – and when invasions take place, they lock their doors, hide in a back room, and turn off the lights.

He says similar precautions are taken by many in Sebastia, who are “living in fear” after his son’s killing sent out a chilling message to those who call the ancient town home.

“The army comes here daily – and now we fear to go out,” Wafaa added. “Soldiers are prepared to shoot children now.

“I let my son go to the shops, but I got him back [covered] in blood.”

The last time Marta saw her 14-year-old son was three months ago – he was wearing rebel army fatigues and holding a rifle as he marched down the street with the other child soldiers.

She ran to the commanding officer and begged him to release her boy, who had been abducted nine months earlier in the middle of the night from their home in eastern Colombia at age 13. The officer, part of a dissident group of the now-demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, waved her away, threatening to shoot her if she didn’t leave.

“All I do is pray and cry and cry and cry and ask God to get my boy out of there,” said Marta, who asked to remain anonymous in order to share her family’s experience safely.

The 40-year-old mother is not alone. Hundreds of mothers across Colombia have lost children to similar armed groups, either through abduction or coercion.

In its annual report for 2024, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that Colombia faces its worst humanitarian outlook since the 2016 peace deal with the FARC rebel group. It drew special attention to surging child recruitment by armed groups, finding that 58 percent of those living in conflict zones cited it as the top risk in their communities.

As Colombia’s long-running and complex conflicts continue to escalate, with multiple ceasefires and dialogues between the state and armed groups collapsing this year, criminal organisations increasingly rely on underage soldiers to bolster their ranks.

And there is little being done to stop them.

Marta said she is too afraid to report her son’s abduction to the authorities after the armed group made a clear threat when they took him: if she tells the police, they will execute her boy and then come for the rest of the family.

“I have to let him be. I tell myself he is in God’s hands, so as not to put my other children at risk … I have to leave everything in God’s hands,” Marta said. “I don’t sleep, I don’t eat. Sometimes I have no will to do anything, but I have three smaller children with me. And they need me, they need me.”

Gloria, a 52-year-old mother from eastern Colombia who also asked to remain anonymous, shared with Al Jazeera a similar story to Marta’s. In June, her 16-year-old son was taken in the middle of the night and forced to join another armed group.

“I’m desperate, I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Gloria found out about her son’s abduction after receiving a call from a distressed family member. They told her rebel fighters had forcibly entered the house where her son was staying and taken him away.

“They recruited him to fight, and the boy had never even touched a gun,” she said. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing, nothing. At home, we never had any sort of guns.”

Her family fled their rural hamlet in eastern Colombia earlier this year amid intense fighting between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the now-demobilised FARC.

But after arriving at a refugee shelter in the nearest city, they struggled to make ends meet.

Her son tried unsuccessfully to look for work in Bogota and, unable to join his mother at the shelter due to space, he returned to their family home.

“He had to go back [to our hometown], and there they took him by force,” Gloria said.

Unlike with Marta, Gloria’s son was returned home in late June following intense negotiation efforts by local community members and the ICRC.

From 2021 to 2024, officially documented child recruitments jumped by 1,000 percent, increasing from 37 to 409 – but the real number is likely much higher, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

“We’re seeing a generation of children lost into these networks of criminality for whom they bear little importance,” Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Colombia analyst at ICG, told Al Jazeera.

She authored a recent report detailing the scourge of child recruitment in Colombia. It found that minors are often given the most basic training before being sent to the front lines, used as cannon fodder to shield higher ranks.

“The casualty rates of kids in combat over the last year have been extremely high,” said Dickinson.

It is difficult to estimate how many child soldiers are killed annually since monitoring groups do not distinguish between civilian and soldier deaths when it comes to children.

However, according to the 2024 UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, at least 14 of the 262 children (176 boys and 86 girls) recruited in 2023 were killed, though rights workers said this number is much higher.

“The majority of those children remain associated (136), 112 were released or escaped, and 14 were killed. Some 38 children were used in combat roles,” according to the report, which noted that one child was recruited on two separate occasions by different armed groups.

The report said 186 children were recruited by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) dissident groups, 41 by the National Liberation Army (ELN), and 22 by the Gulf Clan (also known as Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia).

“According to the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, 213 children formerly associated with armed groups entered its protection programme,” it said.

As a result, families who lose children to recruitment endure unbearable pain, fearing that their child may be dead or injured.

By force or coercion

While cases of forced recruitment are far too common, in most cases, minors “voluntarily” enlist to fight after being lured in with false promises, according to ICG’s Dickinson.

“We’re talking about armed and criminal groups winding a fantastical tale to these children that it sounds so much better than their normal life, that they leave of their own volition,” said Dickinson.

Groups use TikTok, WhatsApp and Facebook to sell a glamourised image of life in arms, according to Dickinson. Boys are targeted with videos showing flashy motorbikes, guns and money. The armed groups target young girls by luring them with promises of romance, empowerment, education and in some cases, even cosmetic surgery.

But children face a very different reality after enlisting and are used by senior-ranking members to do their dirty work. Seen as more pliable, minors are given tasks like dismembering bodies or patrolling remote jungle areas for days on end. Child sexual abuse is also rampant.

“All [child recruitment] is forced even if it wasn’t done using force, even if it wasn’t through coercion,” said Hilda Molano, coordinator at the Coalition Against the Involvement of Children and Young People in the Armed Conflict in Colombia (COALICO).

COALICO provides assistance to families and children affected by recruitment and helps compile official data on the phenomenon. Molano says the number of cases officially registered and verified is likely less than 10 percent of the reality.

She said child recruitment is at its worst level since 2009, when the decimated FARC rebels sought to recoup lost manpower.

“It is a cultural problem that transcends the boy and the girl of today,” Molano told Al Jazeera, citing historical cycles of conflict that have dogged Colombia for decades.

The COALICO coordinator described how violence has become normalised, and with it, the acceptance of illicit activities as a means of escaping poverty. Many of Colombia’s youth view joining an armed group as the only way to improve their quality of life and gain independence.

“Young people in Colombia have very few spaces where they feel like they have a voice, feel like they’re heard,” explained Dickinson.

With child recruitment rising, experts warn that stopping it is a mammoth task that would have to address poverty, armed conflict and cultural norms.

“We cannot save everyone. It’s a sad reality,” said Molano.

But that has not stopped her from fighting recruitment when she can; Molano believes that protecting children must start at the grassroots level.

“The solution lies in daily support, in the case-by-case, because otherwise, we don’t make a difference. In the masses we get lost,” explained Molano.

As with Marta, who still holds out hope that her son will return, hundreds of mothers across the country remain at the mercy of armed groups, praying to see their children healthy and living once again.

“I trust in God that he is alive. I also trust in [the group], that they will not harm him. You cannot imagine the agony that I have to live through,” said Marta.

This past week Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump spoke at a rally. Trump’s speech seemed familiar: Disparage Los Angeles (“trash heap”). Criticize Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass (“incompetent, and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists”). Restate grievances about the 2020 election (“rigged and stolen”). Chide the crowd to support the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (“You better push your favorite congressmen”).

But this speech was different from his others. The location was Ft. Bragg in North Carolina — and the audience was mostly soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the “All Americans.” Internal unit communications revealed soldiers at the rally were screened based on political leanings and physical appearance. “If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration,” the guidance advised, “and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out.”

So what followed was to be expected. A sea of young soldiers in uniform — selected for their preference for the president — cheering and clapping for partisan commentary. This obviously violates Defense Department regulations. Heck, it’s even spelled out in a handy Pentagon FAQ:

Q. Can I ever wear my uniform when I attend political events?

A. No; military members must refrain from participating in political activity while in military uniform in accordance with both DoDD 1344.10 and DoDI 1344.01. This prohibition applies to all Armed Forces members.

But what happened during Trump’s appearance at the Army base is worse than breaking regs. The commander in chief forced an important unit to choose sides. He broke the All Americans in two. In essence, his statement to the troops there was: “Those who like me and my politics, come to my rally. The rest of you — beat it.” (Maybe we should start calling them the “Some Americans.”)

Imagine what it was like the day after. The soldiers who chose not to attend wondered how their next rating would go. Some lieutenant from California worried if his commander now has a problem with where he’s from — and is checking whether he was at the rally. Maybe it’s better if he wasn’t, and he instead chose to abide by Defense regulations?

No matter which way you lean, that speech injected partisan acid into the 82nd Airborne. And it will drip down and corrode from the stars at the top to the lowest-ranking private.

Militaries require extraordinary cohesion to function in combat. For those of us who’ve chosen this profession, one thing is burned into our brains from that very first day our hair’s shorn off: We’re all we’ve got. There’s nobody else. When you are hundreds and thousands of miles away from everyone else you’ve ever known, and you’re there for weeks and months and a year, you realize just how important the person next to you is, regardless of where they’ve come from, who their parents are, or whether their community votes red or blue.

Fighting units are like five separate fingers that form a fist. Partisan acid burns and weakens our fist.

Then there are the indirect effects. This speech damaged the military’s standing with a large swath of America. The image of soldiers cheering the partisan applause lines of a commander in chief who just sent thousands of troops to Los Angeles over the state’s objections? Not a good look.

These optics risk ruining the military’s trust with roughly half of America. The military is the last remaining federal institution that a majority of Americans trust “a great deal.” But it’s been slipping since the last Trump administration and may fall under 50%. Yet the military requires firm trust to fund and fill critical needs.

That’s important because not everyone wants to serve in the military. Many would prefer not to think about the expected self-sacrifice, or the daily discomforts of military discipline. Moreover, not everyone is even able to serve in the military. Roughly three-quarters of young Americans can’t qualify.

What if someone who would have been the next Mike Mullen — Los Angeles native, Navy admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs — gets turned off by this rally and opts against the Naval Academy?

Then zoom out a little. What if much of California takes offense at this speech, not to mention at the soldiers and Marines so recently forced upon the local and state governments?

California hosts more active-duty troops than any other state — by a wide margin. It’s also the biggest donor state in the country, contributing $83 billion more to the federal government than it receives. The bases and other strategic locations up and down the Pacific Coast are beyond value. California is America’s strong right arm.

To sever California’s support for the military is simply unthinkable. It just can’t happen. We’ve got to fix this.

The first fix is simple. Hold troops to the accepted standards. Hegseth’s most recent book argued that the Defense Department has “an integrity and accountability problem.” Here’s the secretary’s chance to show America he stands for standards.

But we know mistakes happen, and this could become a powerful teachable moment: When the commander in chief orders troops to such an event, the only acceptable demeanor is the stone cold silence the generals and admirals of the Joint Chiefs display at the State of the Union, regardless of their politics and regardless of what the president is saying. Just a few years ago, two Marines in a similarly awful situation did just this right thing.

A further fix calls for more individuals to act: The roughly 7,500 retired generals and admirals in America need to speak up. The military profession’s nonpartisan ethic is at a breaking point. They know the old military saying: When you spot something substandard, and you fail to correct it, then you’ve just set a new standard.

The reason many of these retired senior officers often don’t speak out is their fear that defending neutrality risks having a political impact. Yet their continued silence carries a grave institutional effect — the slow-motion suicide of the profession that gave them their stars.

The president mentioned Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in his speech, and it’s too bad his speechwriter didn’t include a certain anecdote that would’ve fit the occasion. When the Civil War was over and terms were being agreed upon at Appomattox Court House, Lee noticed Col. Ely Parker, a Tonawanda Seneca man serving on Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s staff. Lee quipped, “I am glad to see one real American here.”

To which Parker replied, “We are all Americans.” Since that very moment, we’ve been one country and one Army, All Americans, indivisible and inseparable from society.

If only we can keep it.

ML Cavanaugh is the author of the forthcoming book “Best Scar Wins: How You Can Be More Than You Were Before.” @MLCavanaugh

WASHINGTON — The tanks are staged and ready to roll. Fencing and barriers are up. Protective metal plating has been laid out on Washington’s streets.

And more than 6,000 troops are poised to march near the National Mall to honor the Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, which happens to be President Trump’s 79th birthday.

With preparations well in hand, one big unknown is the weather. Rain is in the forecast, so there is a chance the parade could be interrupted by thunderstorms.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Thursday that rain or shine the parade will go on. But it could be delayed if there is lightning.

“No matter what, a historic celebration of our military service members will take place!” Kelly said in a statement.

Daylong festivities celebrating the Army are planned on the National Mall — featuring NFL players, fitness competitions and displays — culminating in the parade, which is estimated to cost $25 million to $45 million. The Army expects as many as 200,000 people to attend.

A special reviewing area is being set up for the president, where he will be watching as each formation passes the White House.

Here’s what to expect at the parade Saturday:

The troops

A total of 6,169 soldiers as well as 128 Army tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery will parade before the president and viewers, while 62 aircraft will pass overhead.

The parade will tell the Army’s story, starting with the Battle of Lexington — the first battle of the Revolutionary War — and move all the way to present day.

Each conflict will have 150 troops in period costume, followed by a section of hundreds of troops in modern-day dress. For the last several weeks, Army planners have been working out how to get it timed to exactly 90 minutes, Army spokesman Steve Warren said.

Planners first tried marching troops five across and 12 deep — but the parade ran long. To get it down to the exact time, each section will have soldiers marching seven across and 10 deep, Warren said. That means, for example, the Civil War gets exactly three minutes and 39 seconds and World War II gets 6 minutes and 22 seconds.

The tanks and aircraft

Then there are the tanks. For fans, 8 minutes and 23 seconds into the procession, the first World War I Renault tank will make its appearance.

Compared with today’s tanks, the Renaults are tiny and almost look like a robotic weapon out of “The Terminator.” But they were groundbreaking for their time, lightweight and enabling movement in that conflict’s deadly trench warfare.

The first aircraft will fly over starting 13 minutes and 37 seconds into the parade, including two B-25 Mitchell bombers, four P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft and one C-47 Skytrain. The latter was made famous by the three stripes painted on the wings and body to mark it friendly over U.S. battleships on June 6, 1944, as thousands of Skytrain aircraft dropped more than 13,000 paratroopers into France on D-Day.

The procession will move along into the Gulf War, the war on terror and the modern day, showcasing the Army’s M1A2 Abrams tanks and other troop carriers, like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Stryker combat vehicle.

There will even be six High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS — the mobile rocket launchers that have been highly valued by Ukraine as it has defended itself against Russia’s invasion.

A massive show of Army air power will begin 48 minutes in, when a long air parade of UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters fly overhead as the Army’s story swings toward its future warfare.

The parade finale

The final sections of marching troops represent the Army’s future. The band at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will lead hundreds of future troops, including members of the Texas A&M Army Corps of Cadets, new enlistees just going through Army initial entry training, and cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel in South Carolina.

The last section includes 250 new recruits or soldiers who are reenlisting. As they reach the president, they will turn toward him and raise their right hand, and Trump will swear them into service.

The parade will end with a celebratory jump by the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, which will present Trump with an American flag.

After the parade, a 19-minute fireworks show and concert will round out the celebration.

Copp writes for the Associated Press.

This Saturday, a parade celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary kicks off in Washington. It will include nearly 10,000 soldiers and dozens of helicopters, tanks and armored fighting vehicles. The 90-minute event is expected to cost $45 million — factoring in the roughly $16 million for anticipated damage to roads not accustomed to such heavy tracked vehicles.

In a recent interview, President Trump promoted the event, which also falls on his 79th birthday: “We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it.”

Thing is — after 25 years in the Army, from West Point to Iraq — I (like everyone else who’s worn a uniform) can affirm that our equipment isn’t what makes us great. Our Army and all America’s armed services are made of men and women, not metal and wire. The gear always changes; the Americans who serve and sacrifice are the constant.

It’s not just the parade. Other recent events suggest the commander-in-chief could use a friendly nudge toward the right way to honor our military. On May 24, Trump gave a graduation speech at West Point with his red campaign hat on, veered into a five-minute story about avoiding “trophy wives,” blew off the traditional handshake with cadets by saying, “I’m going back now to deal with Russia, to deal with China” — and then flew straight to his golf club in New Jersey.

The next morning, Trump began with a Truth Social message: “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY.” Which made his next “weave,” during what’s typically a somber speech at Arlington National Cemetery, seem almost tame: “We have the World Cup and we have the Olympics…. Now look what I have. I have everything.”

Of course, neither is exactly the right tone to memorialize those who’ve fallen. (Who even says “happy” Memorial Day?)

But gaffes like this raise a far more important question: How should we honor our military? How ought civilians properly thank those in uniform, past and present?

It can be awkward. I know from experience. I was a 24-year-old lieutenant when I got home from my first yearlong tour in Iraq. I was wearing my camo uniform when someone loudly said, “Thanks for your service!” from about 15 feet away. I didn’t know what to do, so I nodded in response. I was embarrassed at the acknowledgment. Better men whom I served with didn’t come home.

I’m not the first to feel that feeling. Eighty years ago, nearly to the day, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered an address in London just after the end of the Second World War. He said, “Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.” Anyone who’s served in real close combat knows full well that when you’re fortunate enough to get to come home, you can be proud, very proud of your service — but you never brag or boast.

So here’s the right way to think about honoring our military: We appreciate a modest acknowledgment — no more, never less — of our unique role in defending our country and way of life.

“No more” because we are not special. Soldiers aren’t movie superheroes — if we were, there would be nothing to honor because there’d be no risk. We come to service from among you. We’re the guy you sat next to in chemistry, the girl you played with on the playground. We’re not always victims, we’re not always villains, we’re not always valorous, and we’re not always victorious. We’re some blend of all these things. Even George Washington, arguably our greatest general, who won the war that mattered most and protected America when it was still in its crib — worried constantly about losing. He was scared because he was human, and so have been all those since who’ve worn an American uniform.

“Never less” because we are unique. We train to get over our fears to fight. We go where we’re sent, not where we choose. We trade soldiers’ lives for our nation’s protection, for objectives, for time, for military value. Nobody ever said this better than John Ruskin. “The soldier’s trade, verily and essentially, is not slaying, but being slain,” the English historian wrote in the 1800s. “Put him in a fortress breach, with all the pleasures of the world behind him, and only death and his duty in front of him, he will keep his face to the front; and he knows that this choice may be put to him at any moment.”

But just as we acknowledge this unique role, we in uniform must also equally appreciate those who make our service possible. For those in uniform aren’t the only ones in America who sacrifice. Imagine the parents who send their only daughter or son into combat — would anyone dare say they do not also risk everything?

Or other forms of service. My mother was a special education teacher in a poorer part of town and struggled for years to give a chance to otherwise forgotten kids. My father was among the first to join the Transportation Security Administration after 9/11. So I’ve seen civilians serving, even when it was hard.

There are some who misguidedly claim military members have a monopoly on service. This myopia is best captured by a bumper sticker shaped in a soldier silhouette: “Freedom Isn’t Free — I Paid for It.”

This claim is as flimsy as the sticker it’s printed on. It ignores those who also contribute to the fullness of freedom: journalists who free the truth, doctors who free us of disease, clergy who free our souls, teachers who free us of ignorance, lawyers who free the innocent, and so many more in society who silently serve every day. After all, each soldier is the direct result of this entire community. And while basic security may be necessary for the exercise of freedom, it’s certainly not sufficient to ensure “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That takes a bigger American team.

It’s taken me two decades to figure out how to respond to “Thanks for your service.” I now say, “It’s been the greatest privilege — thank you for making it possible.”

That doesn’t cost $45 million or even 45 cents. All it should ever cost is a brief moment of direct eye contact, a few genuinely felt words — and never ever forget the handshake.

ML Cavanaugh is the author of the forthcoming book “Best Scar Wins: How You Can Be More Than You Were Before.” @MLCavanaugh

Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Kyiv had postponed the swap.

On the front line in the war, Russia said that it had pushed into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from Ukraine, but that there were “signals” that the process of transferring the bodies would be postponed until next week.

Citing Zorin on her Telegram channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s “personal decision not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians” or whether “someone from NATO prohibited it.”

Ukrainian authorities said plans agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday were proceeding accordingly, despite what Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, called Russian attempts to “unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process.”

People rest in a metro station, being used as a bomb shelter, during a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday.

(Dan Bashakov/AP)

“We are carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone’s sole decision. Careful preparation is ongoing. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,” he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.

“The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons were informed about on Tuesday,” the statement said. “Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy’s dirty information game.”

Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during the talks in Istanbul, which otherwise made no progress toward ending the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine.

(Evgeniy Maloletka / Associated Press)

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came.

According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn’t correspond to agreements reached Monday.

It wasn’t immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims.

Russia says it is heading into Dnipropetrovsk region

In other developments, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had reached the western edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces Russia illegally annexed in 2022, and that troops were “developing the offensive” in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. This would be the first time Russian troops had pushed into the region in the more than three-year-old war.

Ukraine didn’t immediately respond to the claim, and the Associated Press couldn’t immediately verify it.

Russia’s advance would mark a significant setback for Ukraine’s already stretched forces as peace talks remain stalled and Russian troops have made incremental gains elsewhere.

Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial attacks

One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday’s attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded.

Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed.

Russia’s defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital.

Five people were wounded Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in Russia’s Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region, local authorities said.

Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, two international airports serving Moscow, temporarily suspended flights because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo halted flights temporarily for a second time, along with Zhukovsky airport.

THE trainee, in his 20s, was confronted by a maniac who attempted to steal the pet two miles away from the Swinton Barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire.

The incident on Friday afternoon sent shockwaves through the camp, though the young victim, who suffered a facial wound, is expected to make a full recovery.

It is understood that police are now investigating the attack.

It is not thought to be linked to the victim’s role in the Army.

A source said: “It was a random attack while he was out walking a dog.

“The attacker approached him and produced a knife, and demanded that he hand the dog over.

“Obviously he refused. The knifeman made a lunge at him, and he was wounded in the face.

“The attacker wouldn’t have known he was in the military, but obviously, with the threats soldiers face, this is still an alarming incident.”

Military sources said Wiltshire Police were investigating the incident as a civilian matter.

Swinton Barracks is a 320-acre military estate on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, which is regularly used for Army drills.

It houses two Royal Engineer regiments and two Signal regiments.

Wiltshire Police said: “At around 3.45pm on Friday, we received a report that an unknown suspect had approached a man walking a dog in woodland near Perham Down and attempted to snatch the lead of the dog.

“The victim, a man in his 20s, suffered a minor injury to his face during the incident.

“Our enquiries into the incident are ongoing.”

1

May 30 (UPI) — The man charged with ramming a vehicle into a crowd at a cup victory parade for Liverpool Football Club and injuring 79 peopel appeared in court on Friday.

Prosecutor Philip Astbury said it was the prosecution’s case that 53-year-old Paul Doyle, a former Royal Marine and now a businessman, “deliberately drove” into the crowd in Liverpool city center as people were leaving at the end of the parade.

Astbury asked that Doyle, who is from the West Derby area of Liverpool, not be granted bail for his own safety.

Doyle faces seven counts related to Monday’s incident involving six victims, two of them children, including two wounding with intent charges, two grievous bodily harm with intent charges, two attempted grievous bodily harm with intent charges and a single dangerous driving charge.

Doyle spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth and did not enter a plea.

District Judge Paul Healey remanded the married father of three in custody, telling him that his case was being sent to Liverpool Crown Court, where he would have to reappear later Friday.

Counsel for Doyle, Richard Derby, did not apply for bail.

Doyle has been in police detention since being arrested after a car collided with Liverpool city center, where hundreds of thousands of fans had gathered to celebrate Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory, but was only charged on Thursday afternoon.

Seven of those injured remain in area hospitals.

Merseyside Police said the incident remained the subject of an ongoing, active investigation with officers sifting through a large volume of digital evidence, while the Crown Prosecution Service said it was keeping the charges “under review” as the investigation progressed.

However, Mersey-Cheshire Chief Crown Prosecutor Sarah Hammond appealed for the public and media to refrain from speculation or sharing information that could derail the prosecution’s case or fair justice for the accused.

“We know Monday’s shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool, and the entire country, on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of Liverpool FC supporters. Our thoughts remain with all those affected,” Hammond said.

“Criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information or media online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

Doyle’s social media states that he served for four years as a commando in the Royal Marine Corps, an amphibious special operations unit of the Royal Navy, between 1990 and 1994.

Cambodian and Thai officials claim soldiers from other side opening fire first in latest deadly border clash between the neighbours.

Cambodia’s leader has called for calm in the country a day after a soldier was killed in a brief clash with troops from neighbouring Thailand, in a disputed zone along the Thai-Cambodia border.

In a written statement on Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Manet said people should not “panic over unverified material being circulated”, and reassured the country that he did not want a conflict between Cambodian and Thai forces.

“For this reason, I hope that the upcoming meeting between the Cambodian and Thai army commanders will produce positive results to preserve stability and good military communication between the two countries, as we have done in the past,” said Hun Manet, who is currently on a visit to Tokyo.

“Even though I am in Japan … the command system and hierarchy for major military operations such as troop movements remain under my full responsibility as prime minister,” he added.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said on Wednesday that one of its soldiers was killed in a brief firefight with Thai troops, in a disputed border region between the country’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.

The ministry accused Thai soldiers of opening fire first on a Cambodian military post that had long existed in the contested border zone.

However, Thailand’s Minister of Defence Phumtham Wechayachai said Cambodian forces in the area had opened fire first, adding they had previously dug a trench in the area in an effort to assert Cambodia’s claim over the disputed territory, local media reported.

“I have been informed that the return fire was necessary to defend ourselves and protect Thailand’s sovereignty. I have instructed caution. Although the ceasefire holds, both sides continue to face each other,” the minister said, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.

The Nation also reported that Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra spoke with her counterpart, Hun Manet, and both were working to lower the temperature on the dispute.

“We don’t want this to escalate,” the Thai prime minister was quoted as saying.

Cambodia and Thailand have a long history of disputes along their mutual border, including armed clashes that broke out in 2008 near Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that year. Fighting also broke out along the border in 2011.

The Associated Press news agency reports that in February, Cambodian troops and their family members entered an ancient temple along the border and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai troops.

The incident was recorded on video and went viral on social media.

Hamas has released Edan Alexander, a dual United States-Israeli national and soldier, as it seeks to revive ceasefire negotiations and an end to Israel’s punishing blockade on the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Monday evening that it had facilitated the soldier’s transfer. An image was released showing Alexander with Hamas members and a Red Cross official.

Hamas said it had released Alexander as a goodwill gesture towards US President Donald Trump, who is visiting Arab Gulf nations this week.

Fighting briefly stopped to allow for the handover after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would permit safe passage for the release.

“Edan Alexander, American hostage thought dead, to be released by Hamas. Great news!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“The government of Israel warmly welcomes soldier Sergeant Edan Alexander who has been returned from Hamas captivity,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

“The government of Israel is committed to the return of all hostages and missing persons – both the living and the fallen,” the statement added. Families of the captives have accused Netanyahu of putting his own political survival above that of the captives still held in Gaza.

In a statement, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric welcomed Alexander’s release while calling for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

“We are relieved that one more family has been reunited today. This nightmare, however, continues for the remaining hostages, their families, and hundreds of thousands of civilians across Gaza,” Spoljaric said.

Alexander’s mother reportedly arrived in Israel on Monday and was flown to the Re’im military base, where the two were expected to be reunited later in the evening, according to Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel.

Despite the release, Israel has made no commitment to a broader ceasefire. “There’s nothing in exchange, no release of Palestinian prisoners, no pause in the fighting,” Salhut said. “If there are going to be any sort of negotiations, they’re going to happen under fire,” Salhut added, referring to the Israeli government’s prevailing line.

Akiva Eldar, an Israeli political analyst, said Alexander’s release has spurred joy as well as frustration in Israel. “What we see is that what President Trump can do, Netanyahu is not able – or not willing – to do,” he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.

The Israeli prime minister has faced widespread calls to end the Gaza war to secure the captives’ release but has said he plans to expand Israel’s offensive.

“Today is a crucial point,” Eldar explained. “Because the Israeli public is aware of the fact that if you want a deal, if you want your sons back at home, you can do it. But for that, you have to be a leader like President Trump and not like Netanyahu.”

Release changes little for devastated Palestinians

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said there seems to be no change forthcoming in Palestinians’ daily suffering: “Palestinians are devastated. They’re exhausted. Palestinian families are unable to feed their children. They’re saying their children are going to bed hungry.”

“The IPC [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification] report issued today said 93 percent of Gaza’s population is living through acute food insecurity. This is because of the blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip,” Khoudary said.

“Palestinians are asking, ‘What’s next? What is this release going to bring? Are there any positive negotiations? Is there any glimpse of hope of a ceasefire?’” she added.

And the bombardment continues, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people on Monday.

Gaza on brink of famine

Humanitarian organisations have warned that Gaza is on the verge of mass starvation. The IPC reported that half a million Palestinians face imminent famine.

According to the IPC, 70 days after Israel blocked entry of essential supplies, “goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks.”

The head of the UN’s World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, urged immediate international action. “Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border,” she said. “If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people.”

Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, also issued a stark warning. “The risk of famine does not arrive suddenly,” she said. “It unfolds in places where access to food is blocked, where health systems are decimated, and where children are left without the bare minimum to survive.”

Hunger, she added, has become “a daily reality for children across the Gaza Strip”.

Gaza assault set to continue

Netanyahu and his hardline government remain committed to escalating the military campaign in Gaza.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key coalition partner, reiterated his position that the war must continue and humanitarian aid should be blocked from entering the territory.

“Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, claiming military pressure had compelled Hamas to release Alexander. Critics have countered that the release came about purely because of direct US contacts with Hamas.

Netanyahu met US figures, including Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador Mike Huckabee, on Monday. His office described the meeting as a “last-ditch effort” to push forward a captive-release deal before the fighting widens.

Huckabee said Trump and his administration “hope this long-overdue release” of Alexander “marks the beginning of the end to this terrible war”.

Israel plans to send a delegation to Doha on Tuesday for talks but made clear military operations would persist. “The prime minister made it clear that negotiations would only take place under fire,” his office said.