The Islamist group Hamas published a video this Wednesday showing one of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, with part of his left arm amputated and criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for not doing enough to free them. Hours later, his family responded with another recording, in which he made a plea to his son: “Be strong, I survived”
“Benjamin Netanyahu and his government should be ashamed,” says the young man in the video published by Hamas. Goldberg-Polin, 23, appears unrecognizable: he has close-cropped hair, marks on his face and an amputated arm, since he lost a hand during the Hamas attacks of October 7.
In the video – which records several cuts, as a result of editing – Goldberg-Polin can be seen sitting in a chair and reading a message addressed mainly to Netanyahu, although he also sent A few words to your family on the occasion of the Passover holidaythe Jewish Passover.
“It won’t be a happy holiday for me, but I wish it for you,” says the young man.
Goldberg-Polin is one of approximately 129 Israeli hostages still in Gaza, although many of them – about 70 according to Hamas – may have died.
The Government of Israel maintains an indirect negotiation with Hamas, through mediating countries such as Qatar or Egypt, to try to reach a truce agreement that would allow the exchange of some of the hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, but the talks did not bear fruit until the moment.
“They should be ashamed for abandoning us for two hundred days and all the Army’s efforts have failed,” says the captive, accusing the Israeli Air Force, as Hamas says, of having killed 70 hostages in bombings. “Every day we spend here they ignore us more and more,” he laments.
This Tuesday, the spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed al Ansari, assured that his country remains “committed” to mediation to reach a truce in Gaza, but that it is reassessing its role as a mediator due to the “attacks” and ” lack of seriousness” from parties like Israel.
“We are committed to mediation, but we are reevaluating everything now,” said the spokesperson at a press conference, where he noted that this measure is due, among other reasons, to “the campaigns” against Qatar carried out by officials of the Israeli Government, which show a “lack of seriousness” to achieve a solution.
Hours after her son’s video, his mother Rachel – chosen among the 100 most influential people by the magazine Time– and his father Jonathan posted another video in response. There they sent a message to Hersh. “Today we heard your voice for the first time in 201 days. If you can hear us, we tell you that we love you, be strong, survive.”
“Watching the video today is overwhelming. We are relieved to see him alive, but we are also concerned about his health and well-being, as well as that of all the other hostages and all those suffering in this region,” they added in their own recording.