JERUSALEM — Hamas’s armed wing printed a video Saturday of an American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza because the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel.
Within the video, whose date can’t be verified, Edan Alexander addresses US President-elect Donald Trump in English and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Hebrew.
He calls on Israelis to place stress on the federal government to safe the discharge of the hostages seized on October 7.
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“This video has upset me, however past the hope it offers us, it exhibits how dangerous the state of affairs is for Edan and the opposite hostages and the way a lot they’re crying out and hoping to be saved now,” his mom, Yael Alexander, mentioned throughout a speech at a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv Saturday night.
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Telling the gang she had spoken to Netanyahu, she added: “You should hold your promise and free them. This state is robust sufficient to finish the battle and convey all of them again, together with my Edan.”
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In a press release, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned that in their name, the prime minister had “promised that Israel is decided to take each motion to deliver them again dwelling, along with all the hostages held by the enemy”.
Netanyahu additionally described the video’s launch as “merciless psychological warfare”.
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In america, White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesman Sean Savett referred to as the video “a merciless reminder of Hamas’s terror”.
“The battle in Gaza would cease tomorrow and the struggling of Gazans would finish… if Hamas agreed to launch the hostages,” Savett mentioned in a press release.
The Hostage Households Discussion board marketing campaign group, in the meantime, reiterated its requires the hostages’ launch.
“One 12 months after the primary and solely deal, it’s clear to everybody: returning the hostages is just doable by means of a deal,” it mentioned in a press release.
Second hostage video
Militants seized 251 hostages in the course of the October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel, a few of whom have been already useless.
Ninety-seven are nonetheless being held, together with 34 who’ve been confirmed useless however their our bodies stay in Gaza.
Throughout a short truce between Israel and Hamas in November final 12 months, 80 Israelis held by militants in Gaza have been freed, in alternate for 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
One other 25 hostages, largely Thai farm employees, have been additionally launched from captivity in Gaza.
Saturday’s video was launched by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and comes after Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, printed clips of one other Israeli hostage, Sasha Trupanov, earlier this month.
The October 7 assault resulted in 1,207 deaths, largely civilians, based on an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory marketing campaign has killed 44,382 folks in Gaza, based on figures from the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry that the UN considers dependable.