Hamas posted the latest video of hostages held in Gaza, showing Liri Albag, a 19-year-old female soldier of the Israeli reconnaissance force, being held.
In the 3.5-minute video posted by Hamas on January 4, Albag let down her hair and sat and spoke in front of the camera in a dark room. The video is undated, but Albag said she had been detained for 450 days, suggesting it was filmed recently.
Albag was a scout stationed at the Nahal Oz military base, near the border with the Gaza Strip, when thousands of Hamas gunmen raided Israel on October 7, 2023. During the attack, Hamas killed 15 Israeli scouts, captured Albag and six others as hostages and took them to Gaza.
The Israeli army later rescued a scout and found the body of another person. In addition to Albag, the remaining four people, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Naama Levy and Daniella Gilboa, are still detained in Gaza.
Israel believes that Hamas’ release of hostage videos is psychological warfare. Israeli media usually do not publish these videos, unless the hostage’s family requests it. Albag’s family also asked the media not to publish the video, but agreed to allow images cut from the video to be published.
Hostage Liri Albag in video released by Hamas on January 4. Image: Forum for Hostages and Families of the Missing
“That video broke our hearts. This is no longer the Liri we know. Liri is in bad shape and in a broken mental state. We saw the heroic Liri still alive and begging for help.” “Liri lives a few dozen kilometers away from us, but it’s been 456 days and we still can’t bring Liri home,” the family said in a statement.
They also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government to make decisions about hostages “as if your children were there”. “Liri is alive and must return safely! That depends only on you,” the family added.
The Forum of Hostages and Families of the Missing said the video was “cruel and irrefutable evidence of the urgent need to bring all hostages home”.
The forum notes that US President-elect Donald Trump will take office on January 20. Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that those responsible in the Middle East will pay a heavy price if the hostages are not released by the time the inauguration takes place. “We must not lose this historic opportunity,” the forum emphasized.
Hamas’s video was released at the same time as hostage negotiations were taking place in Doha, Qatar. Israel believes that 96 of the 251 hostages captured by Hamas are still in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that 34 of these people died.