Hamas’s army wing launched a video on Saturday of Liri Albag, one among some 250 individuals taken hostage by the group in its assault on Israel, as Israeli and Hamas officers held additional rounds of oblique cease-fire talks through mediators in Qatar.
Roughly 100 hostages are nonetheless being held in Gaza almost 15 months because the Hamas-led assaults on Oct. 7, 2023, prompted Israel’s conflict in Gaza. Talks to free them have sputtered since a weeklong truce in November 2023 that allowed for the discharge of 105 Israeli and overseas captives.
Ms. Albag, 19, served in a unit of lookouts charged with monitoring attainable threats alongside the border with Gaza. In the course of the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, Palestinian fighters overran the army base the place she served, killing greater than 60 troopers and abducting Ms. Albag and 6 different feminine troopers.
The video launched on Saturday was edited and featured Ms. Albag talking for about three and a half minutes. Ms. Albag mentioned she had been held for over 450 days, however that might not be definitively confirmed.
In a press release, Ms. Albag’s household mentioned that “her extreme psychological misery is clear” within the video, and the footage had “torn our hearts to items.” They requested leaders to “make choices as if your personal youngsters had been there.”
“She is simply dozens of kilometers away from us, but for 456 days we’ve got been unable to deliver her residence,” the household mentioned.
Human rights teams have mentioned Hamas’s observe of constructing and releasing hostage movies was inhumane therapy that might quantity to a conflict crime. Israeli officers have labeled the observe a type of psychological warfare.
Either side are beneath strain from the incoming Trump administration to succeed in agreements on a cease-fire and the discharge of the hostages as quickly as attainable. President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that there can be “ALL HELL TO PAY” except the hostages are launched by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
However Mr. Trump has not detailed how he would break the impasse between Israel and Hamas. Either side have voiced seemingly irreconcilable calls for of their months of negotiations, thwarting quite a few diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration.
On Friday evening, Hamas mentioned its officers had been resuming conferences within the Qatari capital of Doha to succeed in a cease-fire cope with Israel to free the hostages. In a press release, the group reiterated its longstanding calls for for Israel to finish the conflict and withdraw from Gaza.
Israel mentioned earlier this week it was additionally sending a delegation of midlevel safety officers to satisfy with mediators in Qatar. However it’s removed from clear whether or not Israel’s leaders are prepared to meet Hamas’s circumstances. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the conflict won’t finish till the destruction of Hamas in Gaza.
The households of the Israeli hostages worry day by day their family members stay in captivity might be their final. After the discharge of the video that includes Ms. Albag, the Hostages Households Discussion board Headquarters, an advocacy group, referred to as on either side to satisfy Mr. Trump’s deadline.
“Day-after-day in Hamas’s hell in Gaza poses a direct threat of demise to the dwelling hostages,” the group mentioned in a press release. “Sixteen days stay till the ultimatum set by President-elect Trump. We should not lose this historic window of alternative.”
Israel pressed on with its army marketing campaign in Gaza on Saturday. The enclave’s Civil Protection, a rescue company beneath the Hamas-run inside ministry, reported a number of airstrikes through which no less than 11 individuals had been killed and greater than 20 had been lacking beneath rubble throughout the enclave. The company doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its totals. There was no quick remark from the Israeli army.