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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

ROME — The Holy See has formally protested to France after a French court ruled that a former high-ranking Vatican official was liable for what the court determined to be the wrongful dismissal of a nun from a religious order. According to French media, the Lorient tribunal on April 3 ruled in favor of the nun, Sabine de la Valette, known at the time as Mother Marie Ferreol. She was forced to resign from her religious order, the Dominicans of the Holy Spirit, after a Vatican investigation. In a statement Saturday, the Vatican said that it had received no notification of any such verdict, but that the ruling nevertheless represented a “grave violation” of the right to religious freedom. The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis had tasked Cardinal Marc Ouellet, at the time the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, with conducting an investigation that ended with the Holy See taking a series of canonical measures against Valette, including her expulsion after 34 years as a nun in the order. The statement also cited potential diplomatic issues, given Ouellet’s immunity as a cardinal and official of a foreign government. The Holy See is recognized internationally as a sovereign state. According to French Catholic daily La Croix, the Lorient court found the nun's expulsion was without merit and ordered Ouellet, the religious order and other defendants to pay over 200,000 euros ($213,000) in material and moral damages, as well as fines. The defendants are appealing, La Croix said. The Vatican frequently conducts such internal investigations into religious orders or dioceses, which can be sparked by complaints of financial mismanagement, sexual or other types of abuses, or governance problems. It considers the measures it takes to be exclusively internal to the life of the Catholic Church. As a result, the Lorient court decision represented an unusual intrusion of secular justice in internal church matters, prompting the diplomatic complaint from the Holy See. The French justice system seems increasingly willing to take on even high-ranking church officials in court, much more so than in Italy, and especially concerning allegations related to clergy sexual misconduct and cover-up. In 2020, for example, a French appeals court threw out a lower court ruling that had convicted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of covering up the sexual abuse of minors in his flock. That same year, a Paris court convicted a retired Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019 and handed him a suspended eight-month prison sentence. The Vatican had lifted the immunity of the ambassador, Monsignor Luigi Ventura, which allowed the trial to go ahead.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

BEIJING — A top-ranking Chinese official reaffirmed ties with North Korea during a meeting Saturday with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, in Pyongyang, China's state media reported, in the highest-level talks between the allies in years. The visit by Zhao Leji, who ranks third in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy and heads the ceremonial parliament, came as North Korea has test fired missiles to intimidate South Korea and its ally, the United States. The Xinhua News Agency reported that Zhao told Kim at a meeting concluding his three-day visit that China, the North’s most important source of economic aid and diplomatic support, looked forward to further developing ties. He made no mention of the political situation on the peninsula or the region. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 75 years ago, China and North Korea have been “good neighbors and struggled together to attain a common destiny and level of development,” Xinhua quoted Zhao as saying. China fought on behalf of the reclusive communist state against the U.S. and others during the 1950-53 Korean War and in recent years has helped prop up its weak economy, allegedly in violation of United Nations sanctions in response to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program that Beijing had endorsed. Zhao met his North Korean counterpart, Choe Ryong Hae, on Thursday and discussed how to promote exchanges and cooperation in all areas, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. North Korea closed its borders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic amid reports of a major outbreak and food shortages. Zhao’s visit to North Korea marked the first bilateral exchange involving a Chinese Politburo Standing Committee member since the pandemic started. Prior to the outbreak, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping held two summits in 2019. North Korea and China are expected to hold several exchanges this year to mark the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. North Korea has sought to boost its cooperation with Beijing and Russia in the face of a standoff with the U.S. and South Korea over its missile launches and nuclear program. Kim traveled to Russia in September for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S., South Korea and others accuse North Korea of supplying conventional weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine in return for advanced weapons technologies and other support. China has refused to criticize the Russian invasion and accused the U.S. and NATO of provoking Moscow but says it will not provide Moscow with direct military support.

SYDNEY — Australia could consider a highly conditional recognition of a Palestinian state, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said this week, igniting a furious political debate. The potential shift in Australian policy comes as other countries look for a two-state solution to end the war in Gaza. Wong said that the international community was discussing an independent Palestinian state “as a way of building momentum toward a two-state solution." Australia expects a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the exclusion of Hamas from any future Palestinian government as preconditions for recognition, she said. Wong, speaking at the Australian National University on Tuesday, said a two-state solution would promote peace. “Recognizing a Palestinian state, one that can only exist side-by-side with a secure Israel, does not just offer the Palestinian people an opportunity to realize their aspirations, it also strengthens the forces for peace, and it undermines extremism,” she said. “So, I say to you, a two-state solution is the only hope of breaking the endless cycle of violence.” Australia’s conservative opposition has accused Wong of inflicting “irreparable damage” to Australia's relationship with Israel by raising the possibility of recognizing Palestinian statehood. Simon Birmingham, the shadow foreign affairs minister, told local media the plan was misguided. “What Penny Wong seems to be suggesting is some type of fast-tracked or preemptive recognition of Palestinian statehood, and that is completely the wrong approach to be taking at present,” he said. The two-state solution has long been at the heart of efforts to resolve the decades-old conflict in the Middle East, but the process has stalled for years. Britain has said it could recognize a Palestinian state before any deal over the issue is reached with Israel without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of negotiations. Nasser Mashni of the Australia-Palestine Advocacy Network told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Australia should also endorse the plan. “It is time for us to just unilaterally do it and join 139 other like-minded countries and bestow and agree that Palestinians deserve self-determination,” he said. A major obstacle to a Palestinian state is deciding on its borders and its governance.  Both sides claim Jerusalem as their capital. Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly rejected the idea of an independent Palestinian state.

ISTANBUL — One person died and 10 others injured Friday in the southern Turkish province of Antalya after a cable car cabin collided with a broken pole, the interior ministry said Saturday.  Twenty-four cabins were stranded in the air at 5:23 p.m. Friday. Sixteen hours later, more than 60 people were still stranded in the remaining nine cabins in the air, the ministry said; 112 people had been rescued.  None of the people waiting to be rescued had critical injuries or were in poor health, Disaster and Emergency Management Authority Chairman Okay Memis told reporters at the scene, adding that they aimed to complete rescue work before sunset.  In a statement on social media platform X, the interior ministry said seven helicopters and more than 500 rescue workers were carrying out rescue efforts.  A video released by the interior ministry showed rescue personnel tied to safety ropes climbing into cabins.  According to the information on its website, the cable car has 36 cabins with a capacity of six people each. It takes an average of nine minutes to go uphill to the Tunektepe facility, which has panoramic views of the city of Antalya.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Commandos from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks between the two countries. The Middle East had braced for potential Iranian retaliation over a suspected Israeli strike earlier this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including a senior Guard general who once commanded its expeditionary Quds Force there. The Israeli war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip meanwhile is now six months old and is inflaming decades-old tensions across the whole region. With Iranian-backed forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen's Houthi rebels also involved in the fighting, any new attack in the Mideast threatens to escalate that conflict into a wider regional war. Iran's state-run IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard's navy carried out the attack on the vessel, the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a cargo ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC later acknowledged the seizure and said 25 crew had been aboard the vessel. IRNA said the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters. Earlier, a Middle East defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared a video of the attack with The Associated Press. In it, the Iranian commandos are seen rappelling down onto a stack of containers sitting on the deck of the vessel. A crew member on the ship can be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down on the deck. One commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them with potential cover fire. The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. The helicopter used also appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17, which the Guard and the Houthis have used in the past to conduct commando raids on ships. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described the vessel as being “seized by regional authorities” in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without elaborating. The MSC Aries had been last located off Dubai heading toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. The ship had turned off its tracking data, which has been common for Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on nations to list the Guard as a terrorist organization. Iran “is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law,” Katz said. Iran since 2019 has engaged in a series of ship seizures, and attacks on vessels have been attributed to it amid ongoing tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Since November, Iran had dialed back its ship attacks as the Houthis targeted ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Houthi attacks have slowed in recent weeks as the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan ended, and the rebels have faced months of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting them. In previous seizures, Iran has offered initial explanations about their operations to make it seem as if the attacks had nothing to do with the wider geopolitical tensions — although later acknowledging as much. In Saturday's attack, however, Iran offered no explanation for the seizure other than to say the MSC Aries had links to Israel. For days, Iranian officials up to and including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been threatening to “slap” Israel for the Syria strike. Western governments have issued warnings to their citizens in the region to be prepared for attacks. However, Iran in the past largely has avoided directly attacking Israel, despite it carrying out the targeted killing of nuclear scientists and multiple sabotage campaigns against Iran's atomic sites. Iran has however targeted Israeli or Jewish-linked sites through proxy forces over the decades. Earlier this week, Guard General Ali Reza Tangsiri, who oversees its naval forces, criticized the presence of Israelis in the region and in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020, something that long has enraged Tehran. “We know that bringing Zionists in this point is not merely for economic work," Tangsiri reportedly said. "Now, they are carrying out security and military jobs, indeed. This is a threat, and this should not happen.” The U.S., Israel's main backer, has stood by the country despite growing concerns over Israel's war on Gaza killing more than 33,600 Palestinians and wounding over 76,200 more, according to Gaza Health Ministry numbers. Israel's war began after Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Iran not to attack Israel and said he felt an Iranian attack on Israel likely would happen "sooner than later.” “We will help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed,” Biden said. The Gulf of Oman is near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all globally traded oil passes. Fujairah, on the United Arab Emirates’ eastern coast, is a main port in the region for ships to take on new oil cargo, pick up supplies or trade out crew. Since 2019, the waters off Fujairah have seen a series of explosions and hijackings. The U.S. Navy blamed Iran for limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers. The UAE, meanwhile, has sought to mend ties with Iran and issued a statement condemning the suspected Israeli attack in Syria.

MADRID — Police led by Spain on Thursday arrested members of a gang that allegedly defrauded $686 million from victims in 35 countries in a scam centered around cannabis plants for medicinal use.  The gang mounted a marketing system and attended international cannabis fairs to persuade victims to invest in the system, the Spanish National Police said in a statement.  It led the operation with the help of Europol and police forces in five other countries.  Nine suspects, who have not been named, were detained on April 11 on suspicion of fraud in Spain, Britain, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Italy and the Dominican Republic.  "The business model offered by this organization consisted of using the capital transferred from investors to develop partnerships to finance the cultivation of cannabis plants," said Silvia Garrido, a Spanish police spokeswoman.  "With this system, they promised victims profits of between 70% and 168% per year, depending on the species of cannabis in which they invested."  The British National Crime Agency, which took part in the operation, said 180,000 people invested funds in “JuicyFields” which it called "a notorious and elaborate Ponzi fraud scheme."  The NCA also said that a 42-year-old man appeared in a London court on April 11 for the start of extradition proceedings. Luxury cars, hotel parties and music videos were used in an advertising campaign to promote the scheme, police said, and victims were taken to legal cannabis plantations that were involved in the scam.  Police carried out raids in 2022 but did not say if any suspects have been charged with any offenses. 

GENEVA — United Nations and international agencies warn that the lives of millions of people in Sudan are at risk as the world looks away from the enormous humanitarian needs facing the war-torn country.  Sudan has endured a year of war, which humanitarian agencies agree is causing one of the world’s worst human-made disasters. The World Health Organization said, “The war has had a staggering human cost,” with more than 15,000 deaths and an estimated 33,000 people injured.  “The number of casualties reported is likely an underestimate,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told journalists in Geneva Friday.  “We also expect there will be more deaths across the entire population due to displacement, disease outbreaks and the inability to access care for other health issues, maternal and newborn health needs, and lack of access to food and water,” Lindmeier said.  According to a new report by the International Organization for Migration, 20,000 people, half of them children, are forced to flee their homes in Sudan each day.  Since war erupted a year ago on April 15, the IOM said, more than 8.6 million people have been displaced — about 6.6 million inside Sudan and 1.8 million as refugees in neighboring countries.  Amy Pope, the IOM director-general, said, “Sudan is on a tragically fast track to becoming one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises in decades, and the conflict that has engulfed the country is creating pressure throughout the region.”  The World Health Organization also warned that Sudan could soon become one of the world’s worst hunger crises because nearly 18 million people are suffering from acute hunger and 5 million more are on the brink of famine.  And yet, WHO spokesperson Lindmeier said, “This is only the tip of the iceberg” of an increasingly desperate situation.  “Time is running out. Without a stop to the fighting and unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian aid, Sudan’s crisis will dramatically worsen in the months to come and could impact the whole region,” he said  “Access for humanitarian actors is particularly constrained. Half of the states are not accessible from within Sudan. Darfur and Kordofan are inaccessible and cut off from humanitarian aid.”  Sudan’s national army and the rival Rapid Support Forces militia began fighting on April 15, 2023, each seeking to control the government. The two sides have made it difficult for aid groups and relief supplies to reach civilians.  “The situation in Sudan was already very fragile before the war, and it has now become catastrophic,” said Ozan Agbas, Medecins Sans Frontieres Emergency Operations Manager for Sudan.  In a statement issued Friday, he said “In many of the areas where MSF has started emergency activities we have not seen the return of the international humanitarian organizations that initially evacuated in April.”  MSF, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, has accused the world of “turning a blind eye as the warring parties intentionally block humanitarian access and the delivery of aid,” thereby putting millions of people at risk.  In the runup to the first anniversary of the conflict in Sudan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is urging the warring parties to support a cease-fire and engage in dialogue “for the sake of humanity, for the people and children who are suffering.”  Speaking in Mombasa, Kenya, IFRC Head of Delegation Farid Abdulkadir described the enormous toll the war has taken on the lives and livelihoods of the Sudanese people.  He said that the conflict has shattered the basic fabric of everyday life across Sudan and that the country’s health system has collapsed and is unable to care for the population.  “Vital infrastructure is destroyed; professionals across all sectors have lost everything. While over 700,000 children are at risk of being malnourished, the humanitarian consequence of the conflict is dire,” he said.  “But worst of all is the people’s engagement in livelihood and food production, which has both an impact now and an impact in the future,”  A report issued by the U.N. Development Program on Friday assesses the social and economic impacts of the armed conflict on rural communities.  The UNDP study surveyed more than 4,500 rural households across Sudan, concluding that the country faces an accelerating food security crisis.  It says food production and supply chains “have been disrupted by the ongoing war” and warns “that a famine in Sudan is expected in 2024,” particularly in the states of Khartoum and Al-Jazirah and in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani police are searching for gunmen who killed eight people after abducting them from a bus on a highway in the country’s southwest, a police official said Saturday. Earlier, the same attackers killed two people and wounded six in another car they forced to stop.  According to the police official, the abduction took place on Friday in Baluchistan province, which has long been the scene of an insurgency by separatists.   Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Mosakhail said the gunmen set up a blockade, then stopped the bus and went through the passengers’ ID cards. They took eight people with them, all from the eastern Punjab province, fleeing into the mountains, he said.  Police later recovered eight bodies under a bridge about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the highway. Earlier on Friday, the same gunmen had opened fire at a vehicle that failed to stop for their blockade, killing two and wounding six.   A search for the perpetrators was underway, Mosakhail said. The bus was heading from the provincial capital of Quetta to Taftan, a town bordering Iran.   Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, expressing his “deep sorrow and regret over this shocking incident.” He offered his condolences to the families of the victims and said he stood by them in their hour of grief, according to a statement from his office.  “The perpetrators of this incident of terrorism and their facilitators will be punished,” Sharif said.  Abductions are rare in Baluchistan, where militants usually target police forces and soldiers or infrastructure.   There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings. Police said there was no ransom demand and no indication of a motive for the attacks.  Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Al-Mughayyir, West Bank — The search for a missing Israeli teenager resumed Saturday in the occupied West Bank, where settler attacks on Palestinian villages killed at least one person and injured dozens, sources on both sides said. The Israeli army said it was still looking for Benjamin Achimeir, 14, who went missing early on Friday from Malachi Hashalom, an outpost near the city of Ramallah. With tensions already high due to the Israel-Hamas war in the other Palestinian territory of Gaza, Israeli security forces and hundreds of volunteers formed a huge search party to look for the teen. Violence erupted on Friday afternoon when Jewish settlers who were part of the manhunt raided the village of Al-Mughayyir, around 500 meters west of Malachi Hashalom, according to an AFP reporter. The settlers fired off shots and torched numerous homes and cars in the village, while residents responded by throwing stones, AFP reporters saw. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah said, "Settlers raided the town with the excuse of searching for the missing Israeli boy," adding that "the army arrived to back them up." Arafat Abu Alia, a resident of Al-Mughayyir, said the Israeli army had told residents to gather on the outskirts of their village. "More than 10 houses and 50 vehicles were burnt," he told AFP. At least one person was killed and 25 wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday. Overnight, the official Palestinian news agency reported that five Palestinians were injured in another settler attack in the Abu Falah village near Ramallah. Call for protective deployment Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, urged the U.N. to "authorize the deployment of a protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, with the explicit mandate to prevent and (repel) attacks against civilians." "The Israeli army has abundantly proven unwilling or unable to ensure that task," she wrote on X. The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since early last year, which has intensified since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7. At least 462 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank, according to official Palestinian figures. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israeli settlers who live in communities considered illegal under international law. The war in Gaza erupted after an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,634 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry.

Jerusalem — Six months after Hamas's October 7 attack, dozens of hostages are still languishing in captivity -- a fact that for many Israelis has ruptured a foundational contract between them and their government. "The Jewish people need protection, especially with who we live next to," said Einat Avni Levi, whose family home is within sight of Gaza. Five of her neighbors in the Nirim kibbutz community were killed and five more taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7. "If someone comes and takes me from my bed, I cannot live here if I don't trust my army and my government to come get me," she told AFP. Most Israelis think their government has not done enough to free the 129 hostages still being held by Hamas, according to a poll last week by Israel's Channel 12. For Levi, 40, something fundamental has been shattered -- a "bond" broken between the state and its people. "Growing up and serving in the army, I always knew everything would be done to get me back," said Shimon Attal at one of the recent rallies in Jerusalem for the return of the hostages. "I knew they would not stop at anything," the computer programmer told AFP. "And that made you feel safe." 'Moral obligation' Rabbi Benny Lau said the concept is a bedrock of Israeli society. "There is a covenant between the state and the citizens that no one will be left behind. You feel secure your leaders will do the maximum to bring you back," he said. But "when we are talking about a Jewish state it goes to another level, a sacred level," he insisted. "The idea of preserving life is so strong, it's written in the Bible so many times," Lau said. "We are all the image of God, so if you lose a person you are losing part of God." The rabbi said that sense of solidarity was reinforced by the centuries of persecution Jews suffered, when children and elders were kidnapped for ransom. Even the head of Israel's military, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, talks of this deep "moral obligation" and that Israel is ready to "pay a price for the return of its sons and daughters." Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who many accuse of "abandoning" the Gaza hostages -- exchanged 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for just one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in 2011. It was the highest price Israel ever paid for a captive. One of those freed from jail was Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the man Israel says masterminded the October 7 attack. 'In great danger' But for a small minority like Tzvika Mor, whose eldest child, Eitan, is being held by Hamas, that price is too steep. Mor said he would rather sacrifice his son than have him swapped for a Palestinian prisoner. "We are not talking about the life of my son, we are talking about the existence of the Jewish state," he said. "We are in great danger." "We do not want the hostages to be released at any price," Mor added. He said Eitan, 23, who was a security guard at the Supernova music festival -- where 364 people were killed -- always said, "'Do not do a prisoner swap for me.'” "I hope he hasn't changed his mind," said Mor, a father of eight who founded the Tikvah group of more conservative hostage families. "All our enemies should learn that they cannot start a war with Israel," he said. 'We want all back' Yet the vast majority of the hostage families have a completely different view, saying "a deal has to be done." Only with the "return of the abducted" insisted Carmit Palty Katzir, the sister of hostage Elad Katzir, whose body was recovered last week, can "the contract between the citizens and the state be renewed." Rabbi Lau said any deal also has to respect the 34 hostages the Israeli military believes are already dead. "We want all of them back," he said, saying Jewish law dictates that every part and trace of a person, "right down to the bloodstains," must be found and returned "to the earth to respect and honor what was made in the image of God." Until then, he said, no one in Israel should rest easy. "All those people should be in front of our minds all day, every day."