Hamas releases hostage video while observing imminent attack on Rafah (comprehensive)

American-Israeli male hostage criticizes Israeli government and requests return

Hostage families allow release of video: “Hostage release must be prioritized”

(Cairo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Sang-hoon = As the Israeli military prepares to attack Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, which is considered Hamas’ last bastion, Hamas released a video showing hostages.

On the 24th (local time), Hamas released a video about 3 minutes long featuring American-Israeli Hershey Goldberg-Pauline through its Telegram channel.

He was captured by Hamas militants near a kibbutz (collective farm) in Laim, southern Israel, where the Supernova music festival was held in the early morning of October 7 last year and taken to the Gaza Strip.

Goldberg-Polin appeared in the video with her upper left wrist amputated and asked the Israeli government to identify herself and allow the hostages to return home.

He said that no one helped them when they were kidnapped, and he raised his voice saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government should be ashamed of neglecting the hostage situation by Hamas and failing to rescue them for 200 days.

In addition, he criticized Israel for rejecting the ceasefire proposal, saying that 70 hostages lost their lives in the Israeli airstrike.

His left hand appears to have been amputated during the kidnapping. At the time, Hamas militants reportedly threw a grenade at the building where Goldberg-Paulin and others were hiding.

The date of filming is not recorded in the video, but it is believed to have been filmed recently, given that he described being detained for nearly 200 days. Today is the 201st day since the war in Gaza broke out.

Hamas has released videos containing hostages several times in the past, and Israeli authorities have criticized them as sophisticated psychological warfare.

In particular, by releasing this video at a time when the Rafah attack was approaching, they may have aimed to create public opinion inside and outside Israel that the hostages should be rescued first through negotiations rather than military operations.

For this reason, the Hamas hostage video was not released to the Israeli media for a while, but this time the hostages’ families allowed its release.

In a statement, the hostages’ families urged, “Hersey’s cry is the cry of all hostages. We cannot waste any more time. The release of the hostages must be the top priority.”

Hamas sparked the war on October 7 last year by infiltrating about 3,000 militants into southern Israel, massacring about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.

About 100 of the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip were released during the temporary ceasefire in November last year, but the remaining 130 have not yet returned.

The Israeli military estimates that about 30 of them have already died.

Israel is preparing an entry operation, believing that there will be Hamas leaders and remnants as well as hostages in Rafah.

However, the international community, including the United States, has been dissuading Israel, believing that if street fighting begins here, where 1.4 million refugees are concentrated, there will be a huge loss of life.

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2024/04/25 02:20 Sent