OSWIECIM, Poland: Released Gaza hostages joined Holocaust survivors on Monday for an annual march in southern Poland to commemorate victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Survivors of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas also joined the “March of the Living” at the site, which has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of European Jews.
“I came to show that we’re alive and that we’ve built a country,” Bella Haim, 86, told AFP.
Her grandson Yotam Haim was captured by Hamas militants on October 7 and later gunned down in Gaza by Israeli soldiers who failed to realize he had escaped from his captors.
“I told myself that I couldn’t remain silent and I’m marching here in the name of my grandson Yotam and the victims” of the attack, Bella said.
She was part of an Israeli delegation that flew to Poland for the march in the southern city of Oswiecim, which numbered around 8,000 people this year.
Every year, Jews and non-Jews from around the world take part in the event at the site of the former death camp, which was built by Nazi Germany after it invaded Poland.
One million European Jews died at the camp between 1940 and 1945 along with around 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers.
The camp was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945.
This year’s March of the Living was briefly disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who spoke out against what they called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
The militants also took some 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza. The army says 35 of them are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,735 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Ex-Gaza hostages in Auschwitz for March of the Living
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Ex-Gaza hostages in Auschwitz for March of the Living
- One million European Jews died at the camp between 1940 and 1945 along with around 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers
Syria welcomes US House vote to end ‘Caesar Act’ sanctions
- Representatives back defense bill that includes provisions to scrap wide-ranging sanctions imposed on former leader Bashar Assad
- Syria’s new government says vote is ‘pivotal moment’ for country as it attempts to rebuild its economy
LONDON: A vote by the US House of Representatives in favor of ending tough sanctions on Syria was welcomed by Damascus on Thursday as a “pivotal moment.”
The “Caesar Act” sanctions regime was imposed in 2020 against former President Bashar Assad’s government over the human-rights abuses carried out during the civil war.
The move to repeal the sanctions, seen as a crucial step for the Syrian Arab Republic’s economic recovery, is contained in a wide-ranging defense bill that the lower house of Congress backed on Thursday.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the vote “paves the way for a broader economic recovery and the return of opportunities long denied to Syrians.”
The ministry described it as a first step toward improving trade flows, and increasing the availability of essential goods, and medical supplies.
The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, will now pass to the US Senate where a vote is expected to be held by the end of the year.
Assad was forced from power a year ago after a rapid military campaign by opposition forces brought the 13-year conflict to an end.
The new president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who led the offensive, has made ending Syria’s isolation a priority as he attempts to rebuild the country’s shattered economy.
President Donald Trump said in May that he planned to lift all sanctions on Syria and many have already been removed or suspended.
The Caesar Act, which imposed the toughest restrictions on trade and investment in Syria, requires Congressional approval to be overturned.
Along with repealing the act, the bill requires the White House to provide regular reports confirming that Syria’s government is fighting Daesh militants and upholding religious and ethnic minority rights, Reuters reported.
Syria’s foreign minister, Asaad Al-Shaibani, said the step toward repealing the Caesar Act was a “triumph for justice but also a recognition of the strength and resilience of the Syrian people.”
He said it reflected the success of Syrian diplomacy with the US.
Al-Sharaa has held talks with Trump three times, including an initial meeting in Riyadh in May on the sidelines of a US-GCC summit.
The Syrian president traveled to Washington in September where he was hosted at the White House. Speaking after the meeting, Trump said the US would do “everything we can to make Syria successful.”
During the visit, Syria confirmed that it would join the global coalition against Daesh.
Removing international sanctions on Syria would allow foreign investment to flow into the country, where the cost of rebuilding is estimated to be more than $200 billion.
Syrian Central Bank Gov. Abdulkader Husrieh told Reuters recently that the repeal of US sanctions was “a miracle” and that the economy was growing faster than expected.
The Caesar Act targeted individuals, companies and institutions linked to Assad, and sanctioned foreign entities from funding them.
The legislation was named after a code name given to a Syrian military photographer who smuggled thousands of photos documenting torture and war crimes by the Syrian regime out of the country.
