Hamas’ military wing released a video on Saturday of Liri Albag, one of about 250 people kidnapped by the group during its attack on Israel, as Israeli and Hamas officials held ceasefire talks through mediators in Qatar.
An estimated 100 hostages remain in Gaza nearly 15 months after the Hamas-led offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered Israel’s war on Gaza. Talks to free them have escalated since a week-long deal in November 2023 that allowed the release of 105 Israeli and foreign hostages.
Ms. Albag, 19, was working in the security unit charged with monitoring potential threats on the Gaza border. During the Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel, Palestinian soldiers stormed a military base where she was serving, killing more than 60 soldiers and abducting Ms. Albag and six other female soldiers.
The video released on Saturday was edited and showed Ms Albag speaking for about three and a half minutes. Mrs. Albag said he has stayed for more than 450 days, but that has not been confirmed at all.
In a statement, Ms. Albag’s family said her “deep mental distress is evident” in the video, and the images “tear our hearts to pieces.” They asked leaders to “make decisions as if your own children were there.”
“He is many kilometers away from us, yet for 456 days we could not bring him home,” said the family.
Human rights groups say Hamas’ practice of making and releasing videos of hostages is an atrocity that could amount to a war crime. Israeli officials have labeled the practice psychological warfare.
Both sides are under pressure from the incoming Trump administration to reach ceasefire agreements and hostage releases as quickly as possible. President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY” unless the hostages are released upon his inauguration on Jan. 20.
But Mr Trump is not clear how he will end the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Both sides have voiced seemingly irreconcilable demands in their months of negotiations, thwarting several attempts at negotiation by the Biden administration.
On Friday night, Hamas said its officials would resume meetings in the Qatari capital, Doha, to reach a cease-fire agreement with Israel for the release of hostages. In a statement, the group reiterated its long-standing demands that Israel end the war and withdraw from Gaza.
Israel said earlier this week it had also sent a team of mid-level security officials to meet with mediators in Qatar. But it remains unclear whether Israeli leaders are willing to fulfill Hamas’s demands. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the war will not end until Hamas is destroyed in Gaza.
Families of Israeli captives fear that each day their loved ones spend in captivity could be the last. After the release of the video showing Ms. Albag, the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, a human rights organization, called on both sides to meet Mr.
“Every day in the hell of Hamas in Gaza there is a risk of death for the living hostages,” the group said in a statement. “There are sixteen days left until the ultimatum issued by President-elect Trump. We must not lose this historic opportunity of opportunity.”
Israel continued its military operation in Gaza on Saturday. The Civil Defense of the Enclave, a rescue agency under the Hamas-run interior ministry, reported multiple plane crashes that left at least 11 people dead and more than 20 missing under rubble throughout the area. The agency does not distinguish between civilians and military personnel in its rates. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
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