Gaza hostages: Hamas releases another hostage video

According to Israeli media reports, the Islamist Hamas has released another video of a hostage kidnapped from Israel. The young soldier (19) was kidnapped from her location in Nahal Oz at the border fence with the Gaza Strip during the unprecedented Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023. She was part of the military observer force that unsuccessfully warned superiors of suspicious activity in the Gaza Strip before the Hamas attack.

The hostage’s family did not initially give permission to show the three-and-a-half-minute video or reproduce its contents. Only one still image was released, which reads in Arabic: “I have been a prisoner in Gaza for more than 450 days.” This would mean that the recording was taken recently. The circumstances under which the video was created are unknown. The woman is wearing dark clothing and the background of the video is completely black.

Hamas has repeatedly released videos of hostages, which Israel denounces as psychological warfare. Relatives and friends of the hostages as well as demonstrators have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of torpedoing a ceasefire with Hamas and thus the release of the hostages with new demands.

Netanyahu denies this. But he has not changed his policy even after previous hostage videos. Negotiations in Qatar for a ceasefire are reportedly making slow progress.