The Islamist Hamas has released a video of a suspected hostage in the Gaza Strip for the first time. In a video published on the official Telegram channel of Hamas on Monday evening, a young woman is seen having a wound on her arm bandaged and then speaking directly into the camera. “I am 21 years old and come from Shoham,” the woman says in Hebrew in the one-minute clip. She was currently in Gaza and was being treated in a hospital there. “Please get me out of here as quickly as possible,” she continues.
It was unclear where, when and under what circumstances the video was taken. According to media reports, it is said to be an Israeli who also has French nationality. Accordingly, the woman was reported missing after the massacre by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.
The Israeli military announced on Tuesday night that the woman had been kidnapped. The army is in contact with the family. Everything is being done to get the hostages back. “In the video, Hamas attempts to portray itself as a humane organization. Yet it is a murderous terrorist organization responsible for the murder and kidnapping of babies, women, children and seniors,” the Israeli army said.
Israel says it wants to destroy the Hamas ruling party in the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 people in the terrorist attack on Israel. According to the army, at least 199 people have been kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for Hamas’s military wing said that between 200 and 250 people were said to have been kidnapped. 200 of them are under the control of Hamas, the remaining hostages are under the control of other militant factions, the spokesman said in a video. According to information from the Gaza Strip, the number of Palestinians killed rose to more than 2,800.
Nevertheless, he claimed that “foreigners are not prisoners, but guests in Gaza.” She would be released “as soon as the current conditions end.” Accordingly, Hamas is committed to a prisoner exchange.
At least 22 of those abducted are said to have already been killed in Israeli air strikes. The information could not be independently verified.
