An 8-year-old Israeli boy, believed to be among the 200 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, spent his 9th birthday while in captivity. Before turning 9, he had sent a birthday invitation to his friends to celebrate the day with him. Now, a picture of the heartbreaking invitation that has surfaced on Instagram, shows Ohad standing with a heart-shaped leaf in his palm.

“Come celebrate my 9th birthday with me on Saturday, October 21, 2023,” says the invitation.

”This is the invitation he sent to his friends to celebrate with him over the weekend. Instead of being surrounded by family and friends, he will ‘celebrate’ in captivity, in the hands of terrorists. On October 7, 2023, Ohad, along with his mother and grandparents, were ripped from their home, kidnapped by Hamas, and taken to Gaza. Ohad, along with hundreds of civilians, is being held hostage by Hamas,” the caption of the post shared by StandWithUs reads.

Watch the video here:

The caption of the post further described him as a bright young boy and an only child. ”Ohad is a brilliant chess player and a wizard with the Rubik’s Cube. He also loves playing soccer and tennis. Please share this so we can bring him home,” the caption added.

Reacting to the image, one user wrote, ”Oh little Ohad, just a child. Please let him be released and safe with his family and the remainder of the Israelis.” Another commented, ”Praying for the safe return of Ohad and all of the hostages.”

According to the Times Of Israel, Ohad was kidnapped by Hamas operatives on October 7 and taken to Gaza along with his mother Keren, and his grandparents.

The Israeli military confirmed that the family’s cell phones had been detected in Gaza.

”I keep imagining what he is going through. He’s a sensitive boy. Did he see dead bodies? He wears glasses. Did they take them from him? Can he see anything? I keep thinking of every scenario, hoping for the least catastrophic. I just hope that he is safe and with his mother, ” Ohad’s grief-stricken father, Avi Zichri said. 

Notably, Ohad is Mr. Zichri’s only child with his partner, Keren Munder, a 54-year-old special education teacher and volleyball coach for children with disabilities. 

Exposure to violent conflict can produce fear, horror, and lifelong trauma in young children. As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, the conflict is taking a horrendous toll on innocent children from both regions. Several heartwrenching visuals of children crying, running through the streets, and cowering in bomb shelters after airstrikes have surfaced online. Recently, another heartbreaking image of a scared little girl hiding in a storage unit after surviving the Hamas attack went viral.

In a shocking incident, a nursery school teacher forced a six-year-old student to eat his vomit on his birthday, as per a report in the South China Morning Post. After the student finished his lunch, the teacher stuffed more food in his mouth. Previously, the boy had thrown up “chunks of pumpkin” after he had too much to eat. 

The incident took place on September 15 at the Maluwan Kindergarten in northeastern China’s Liaoning province. His parents filed a complaint, accusing the teacher of abusing their child. They claimed that their child’s illness resulted from having to consume the pumpkin on a full stomach. They also added that their son, who was dressed in new clothes for the occasion, came home with filthy clothes. They forgot about it until the child told his grandmother that the teacher had forced him to eat more food after having a proper lunch.

As per the outlet, the parents requested to watch the CCTV footage several times after they informed the school about the incident. However, they were not granted access to it until the police intervened. After conducting an inquiry, the local education office confirmed the matter on October 13 on its official WeChat account. It required the teacher to be fired from the institute. They also asked the school to apologise to the parents. Further, they also recommended that the principal overhaul the nursery’s staff structure and the local education office even dropped the school’s ranking.

However, as per SCMP, this is not the first time such incidents have been reported in China. In 2017, a preschool of the RYB Education in the Chaoyang area was the subject of complaints to Beijing police over a teacher who was disciplining the kids with needles. The teacher, whose last name is Liu, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and barred from working with children for five years.

Further, it was reported in August that a kindergarten teacher in northeastern China had both beaten and pulled her students to the ground. One parent said that her child developed a fractured nose and stopped wanting to attend school.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st. It is mostly celebrated in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. It has its roots in various traditions and has evolved into a modern event in several countries, including China. On Halloween, Chinese people also dress up in a variety of costumes. Some people choose to dress up as scary characters, such as ghosts, vampires, and witches. Others choose to dress up as popular culture characters, such as superheroes, movie stars, and video game characters.

In order to alleviate discomfort, particularly among individuals unfamiliar with Halloween customs, one underground railway station in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in southeastern China, has taken measures to discourage Halloween makeup by establishing a designated area for the removal of cosmetics, aiming to prevent any potential panic.

According to The South China Morning Post, on online video that is going viral on Chinese social media platforms shows a “makeup removal station” consisting of a desk with a rubbish bin next to a bucket containing facial cleanser and a roll of tissue. Several young women were standing around the desk, using their smartphones as mirrors to remove their cosmetics. One had obvious red marks on her face.

The newspaper mentioned that the video quickly led to the hashtag #subwaysecurityrequirespassengerstoremovemakeup going viral and garnering significant online attention.

The rail passenger code says that people should not wear makeup that could scare other people.

“During Halloween activities, if a passenger is wearing scary makeup, we may ask them to remove it before entering the station,” a representative from Guangzhou Subway told the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.