Islamist movement releases video showing Israeli hostage held in Gaza

More than 250 people were kidnapped during attacks by Hamas commandos on October 7, and 128 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are believed to have died, according to the army.

New images. The armed wing of Hamas broadcast a video on Telegram showing an Israeli hostage held in the Gaza Strip since the Islamist movement’s attack on October 7, Saturday May 11.

These images of around ten seconds consulted by AFP, and whose recording date is not specified, show a man, with a swollen eye and a haggard look, who utters his name. He is standing in front of a white tiled wall, in a place that appears dark. The message is accompanied by hashtags written in Arabic and Hebrew: “Hurry up” And “your government is lying”.

The Hostage Families Forum, an association representing some of the hostage families, identified the man in the video as Nadav Popplewell, who also has British nationality, from Kibbutz Nirim. The hostage’s family called for not broadcasting the video published by Hamas, according to a publication on the association’s account “do everything to put in place an agreement which will bring back all [les otages] Today”.

Israeli offensive on Rafah

This video comes on the 218th day of war, while indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to achieve a truce associated with the release of hostages continue, after the delegations of the mediating countries (Egypt, Qatar, United States) left Cairo on Thursday without an agreement. The video is also broadcast just before May 14, the date of the proclamation of the State of Israel which was created in 1948.

This video is also broadcast less than a week after the start of Israeli military incursions in the city of Rafah, where nearly 1.4 million Gazans gathered, including many internally displaced people. “About 300,000” Palestinians have already left Rafah since the evacuation order was given on Monday May 6.

More than 250 people were kidnapped during attacks by Hamas commandos on October 7, and 128 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are believed to have died, according to the army. Other hostage videos have already been released by Palestinian armed groups since the start of the war. The hostages speaking in the previous videos testified to the conditions of detention, and also questioned the Israeli authorities.