Hamas releases hostage video
Hamas released a video on April 24th showing a well-known Israeli-American hostage alive, according to Arab News and agencies.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old, was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival when it was struck by Hamas on October 7th. The attack killed 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, and resulted in the abduction of 250 individuals.
The recently released video is the first sign of life from Goldberg-Polin since the beginning of the conflict.
In the video, the hostage is missing part of his left arm, lost because of a grenade tossed during the assault, and is accusing Israel’s government of abandoning people held hostage by Hamas. Goldberg-Polin claimed that around 70 captives had been killed in an Israeli bombing campaign, however, this information has yet to be confirmed.
READ: US says Hamas shifted goal posts on hostage talks
Echoing the disappointment in the government’s lack of action towards the hostages, Hersh’s father stated: “We are here today with a plea to all of the leaders of the parties who have been negotiating to date […] Be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region”.
The family’s appeal was then resumed by large crowds of protesters calling for measures to “Bring them back home”.
“We are afraid for his life, so we went to protest and call for the government to do whatever is possible to bring him and everybody else back, as soon as possible” said one of the manifestants.
On November 26th, at least 50 hostages were released by Hamas as part of a truce deal, however, around 100 are still held captive.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have been attempting to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of all hostages for months, without any success. Hamas has declared that the remaining hostages will be released upon the end of the Israeli offensive, which to date has killed over 34,000 Palestinians.
On March 29th, the militant Palestinian group outlined four conditions for a ceasefire, being “a complete halt to the (Israeli) aggression, a full withdrawal of the occupation from all of the Gaza Strip, the freedom of return for the displaced (to the north), and the entry of aid to meet the needs of our people in the Strip”.
Arab News and agencies
