Israel to name seasonal storms after Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza

The Israeli Meteorological Service (IMS) has decided to name some of the upcoming storms after Israeli hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli Army Radio reported on 𝕏.

The initiative to name storms after hostages for the 2024-2025 season was carried out in cooperation with the Greek Hellenic National Meteorological Service and the Cyprus Department of Meteorology.

The meteorological services of the three Mediterranean countries will reportedly make a joint announcement of the official names for the upcoming storms on Sept. 30.

The Israeli hostages for whom storms will be named are Liri Albag, Rumi Gonen, Yarden Bibas, Idan Shtivi, Uriel Baruch, and Omer Neutra.

On Oct. 7, 2023, some 6,000 Hamas terrorists and their allies massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 Israelis from southern Israeli border communities. Some 97 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza but it is currently unclear how many of them are still alive.

While Israel is geographically located in the Middle East, the Israeli meteorological service announced on its website that it had “joined the European project of the World Meteorological Organization and EUMETNET – to assign names to significant weather events.”

While all hostages have endured immense suffering at the hands of Hamas terrorists, the plight of the Israeli Bibas family has deeply resonated with both Israel and parts of the international community.

On the morning of Oct. 7, Yarden and Shiri Bibas and their young sons Ariel (4) and Kfir (then 10 months old) were brutally kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from their home in Nir Oz, an Israeli community located close to the Gaza border.

While most of the Israeli hostage children returned to Israel last November, the Bibas children are still being held in captivity. In addition, it is unclear whether any of the Bibas family members are still alive.

In November, Hamas claimed that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were killed in an Israeli aerial strike. However, Hamas often uses such psychological warfare, claiming that specific hostages were deceased who later turned out to be alive.