Hamas Releases Video Of Israeli Hostage Amid Ceasefire Talks

Hamas has released a video showing a 19-year-old Israeli captive, as indirect talks between the group and Israel on a ceasefire and hostage release deal resume in Qatar.

The footage shows Liri Albag calling for the Israeli government to reach a deal.

She was taken hostage along with six other female conscript soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base on the Gaza border during Hamas’s October 2023 attack.Five of them remain in captivity.

The announcement of renewed talks came as Israel intensified attacks on Gaza, with the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry saying on Sunday that 88 people had been killed in bombardment over the past 24 hours.

One strike on a home in Gaza City on Saturday killed 11 people including seven children, according to the Gaza civil defence agency.

Images showed residents searching through rubble for survivors and the bodies of the dead wrapped in shrouds.

“A huge explosion woke us up.Everything was shaking,” neighbour Ahmed Mussa told AFP.
“It was home to children, women. There wasn’t anyone wanted or who posed a threat.”

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had struck more than 100 “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip over the past two days and “eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists”.

Responding to the video showing their daughter, Liri Albag’s parents said it had torn their hearts to pieces and they appealed to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “make decisions as if your own children were there”.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, which represents hostage families, said the sign of life from Liri was “harsh and undeniable proof of the urgency in bringing all the hostages home”.

In a call to Lira Albag’s parents, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country’s delegation would remain at the negotiating table until all hostages were returned home.

BBC/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma