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Leo Soto, 25, who lost his friend in the disaster, reacts as people hang up signs of missing residents
A makeshift wall with flowers and images of the missing has been set up in Surfside

Anguished families face an agonising wait for information about their loved ones following the collapse of the Champlain Tower apartment complex in Miami last Thursday. Eleven people have been confirmed dead and more than 150 are still missing.

The search for survivors has been slow, as rescuers sort through the rubble in sweltering heat and high humidity. Those missing include a devoted grandmother, a beloved teacher and the sister of Paraguay’s first lady.

Here is what we know about some of those who have died, and some of those who are still missing.

‘They didn’t want to be apart from each other’

Antonio Lozano, 83, and his wife Gladys, 79, are among those confirmed dead after their son Sergio Lozano gave officials a DNA sample.

They were about to celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary in July and had known each other for more than 60 years.

The couple used to joke that neither wanted the other one to die first, because they did not want to be apart from each other.

Gladys y Antonio Lozano
Gladys and Antonio Lozano are among those confirmed dead

Mr Lozano could see his parents’ apartment from his own home and heard the crash of the collapse. When he ran to the window, he could no longer see their apartment.

He told reporters that he took some comfort in the knowledge that they “went together and went quickly”.

A father who loved baseball with his son

Manuel LaFont, 54, lived on the eighth floor of the building and has also been confirmed dead.

Mr LaFont’s two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, had been spending time with him that day, but were picked up by their mother – Mr LaFont’s ex-wife – just hours before the collapse.

“My children were born again, and I was born again as well,” she said.

Mr LaFont would often be found playing baseball with his young son, the Miami Herald reports.

Danny Berry, director of the Miami Beach Youth Baseball League, told the paper that “they were out there [playing baseball] until the lights went out”.

‘Our beloved Stacie’

The first victim to be officially named was Stacie Fang, whose 15-year-old son, Jonah Handler, was rescued from the rubble hours after the collapse.

According to US media, Ms Fang was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center on Thursday. Her funeral is due to take place on Sunday in New Jersey, NBC6 reported.

In a statement, her family expressed thanks for the outpouring of sympathy and support they had received.

“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,” it read.

‘A very loving family’

Among those missing are Bhavna Patel, a 38-year-old British and US citizen, her husband Vishal Patel, 42, and their one-year-old daughter, Aishani.

In a tweet a relative, Sarina Patel, confirmed her family members were yet to be found. Bhavna is pregnant, the tweet says.

A photo of Vishal Patel (left), Bhavna Patel (right) and Aishani (centre)
Vishal Patel (left), Bhavna Patel (right) and Aishani (centre) are all reported missing

Vishal’s cousin Robin told Sky News that he had spoken with him the night before the building collapse.

“Aishani had just started to grow her first set of bottom teeth, her preference for teething was actually the stick from a xylophone toy. And Bhavna was pregnant so we were talking about that and arranging a family reunion,” he told Sky News.

Umma Kannayan is a family friend of the Patels. She told the BBC’s Will Grant that they were a “very loving” family who were closely involved in their religious community.

“Aishani was like the little baby of the temple,” she said. “It feels like you’ve lost a part of yourself.”

Ms Kannayan said she was waiting with the Patel family’s relatives for news, but that “not much information has been shared” about the victims.

Family of Paraguay’s first lady

The sister of Paraguay’s first lady, Silvana López Moreira, is among those yet to be found.

Sophia López Moreira lived with her husband, Luis Pettengill, and their three children in the building.

The first lady has travelled to Florida to be with her family amid the ongoing search.

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Their nanny, Leidy Luna Villalba, is also missing. She had only just arrived in Miami on Wednesday – hours before the building collapsed. It was her first time travelling outside of Paraguay.

She had messaged her cousin when she arrived, telling him she was excited to explore the city.

Her mother, Juana de Villalba, told media in Paraguay: “She’s the primary breadwinner of our family and she went to Miami for work. She went for us. My heart is broken”.

‘The youngest 92-year-old I know’

Michael Noriega’s 92-year-old grandmother Hilda is yet to be found. He described her as “larger than life” and “92 years old going on 62”.

“She is probably the most popular person that I know – tonnes of friends. She lives for her faith first, her family second and her friends third and she is so full of life, especially for her family,” he told CNN.

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After the collapse, Mr Noriega rushed to the scene with his parents.

“There was debris everywhere and my father, an hour or two after we got there, stepped on something and looked down and it happened to be a birthday card that was given to her by some of her friends a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

Shortly after, they found two of her pictures. “They were beautiful to find,” Mr Noriega said.

‘Devastated 12-year-old daughter’

Brad Cohen, 51, is one of several members of the Jewish community who remain missing. It is thought at least 34 of those unaccounted for are Jewish, a local synagogue told journalists.

He was in the building with his brother-in-law at the time of the collapse.

“The hardest thing has been seeing the devastation of my 12-year-old daughter, she is very close to her father,” Brad’s wife, Soraya Cohen, told the BBC.

Soraya Cohen shows a picture of her husband Brad
Soraya Cohen’s husband Brad was inside the Champlain Tower when it collapsed

She told ABC News that she did not have hope that her husband would survive.

“Just look at that rubble,” she said.

A beloved PE teacher and his wife

The disappearance of one Jewish couple prompted an emotional reaction on social media.

Several people have queried the whereabouts of Myriam Caspi Notkin and Arnie Notkin, an elderly couple who lived on the third floor of the collapsed building.

They married about 20 years ago after losing their spouses.1px transparent line

Speaking to the Miami Herald newspaper, Fortuna Smukler said Mr Notkin is a beloved member of the community.

Ms Smukler said Mr Notkin taught physical education (PE) at a local primary school in South Beach for years, and is remembered by many students.

“He was such a well-liked PE teacher from people’s past,” she said. “Everyone’s been posting, ‘Oh my god, he was my coach’.”

Ms Smukler said he always had stories to tell.

“He had students who became famous, and he had to tell me about them, how they were good or mischievous,” she said.

‘I’ll call her tomorrow’

Magaly Ramsey received a call from her mother, Magaly Delgado, the night before the collapse.

“My mother called me at around 10 o’clock on Wednesday night, but I was at a conference and I couldn’t answer her,” Ms Ramsey told the BBC.

Magaly Ramsey
Magaly Ramsey couldn’t take a call from her now-missing mother the evening before

I’ll call her tomorrow, she thought. Since then, however, she has not heard from her mother, an 80-year-old of Cuban origin.

“The most difficult thing is not having information,” Ms Ramsey said.

She added that her mother had been concerned about shaking from nearby construction work.

“When the other building beside it, which is relatively new, was being built, she did complain of a lot of tremors and things… she sometimes was concerned about what may be happening to her building,” she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

A devoted grandmother

Kevin Spiegel was on a business trip in California when he heard about the collapse. He and his wife Judy, 66, had lived in an apartment on the sixth floor for more than four years.

Mrs Spiegel’s daughter, Rachel, was last in contact with her mother the night before, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper said Judy had texted her to say that she had finally found the Disney dress that her four-year-old granddaughter wanted.

A devoted grandmother, Judy had been helping with picking up the children from school, Rachel said.

“My mum is just the best person in the world. She is so caring and loving,” Rachel told CNN.

She added that her young daughter had been asking if her grandmother had been found yet.

“We’re very hopeful that the community here will be able to find our loved ones,” Judy’s son Josh Spiegel told CNN.

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Israel’s War On Gaza: List of Key Events, Day 101

Published

3 years ago

on

15th January 2024

By

Israel's war on Gaza: List of key events, day 101 | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.

Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:

Latest updates and human impact

  • Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
  • This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
  • Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
  • The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
  • The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.

Diplomacy

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  • The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
  • Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
  • Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.

West Bank raids and violence

  • Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
  • Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
  • The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
  • The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
  • Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
  • Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
  • “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.

 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Hamas Says Will Kill Hostages if Israeli Attacks On Gaza Civilians Continue

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

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Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023

Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.

The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.

The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.

Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.

As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.

Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in Israeli strikes, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in an Israeli attack, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 9, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.

UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.

Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.

Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.

“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.

Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.

“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.

Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.

The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

INTERACTIVE_DEATH_TOLL_INJURED_ISRAEL_PALESTINE_OCT10_2023_0415
They said they would remain “united and coordinated” to ensure Israel can defend itself.

But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.

Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Western Leaders Accused of Hypocrisy Over Response To Palestine, Ukraine

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3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

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US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023

Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.

After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.

He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”

Accusations of Western ‘double standards’

Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.

Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.

Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.

https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”

It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.

Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.

“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.

Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:

“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”

Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”

Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.

https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.

Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.

Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.

After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.

Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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