Palestinian terrorists have released disturbing new hostage videos of a 13-year-old boy and an elderly woman who were abducted when their kibbutz was stormed on October 7.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group has now shared its first ‘sign of life’ videos of each of the captives. The hostages look gaunt and exhausted as they speak to the camera, Hannah from what appears to be a wheelchair.
Each sharply criticises Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blaming him for the ongoing situation. It is not clear if they are reading from a script.
The PIJ – which is allied with but separate from Hamas – shared another video claiming it is prepared to release the pair for ‘humanitarian and medical reasons’, but only if ‘appropriate measures’ are met.
Palestinian militants of the Islamic Jihad movement participate in an anti-Israel military parade in Gaza City, October 4, 2023 (file image)
Yagil’s mother previously said she fears her son and his older brother Or are being held in one of the terrorists’ underground tunnels. Pictured: Grab from an animated video about the boys’ abduction
Renana Gome said the last thing she heard Yagil saying was: ‘Don’t take me, I’m too young.’ Pictured: Grab from an animated video about the boys’ abduction
Israel has condemned it as psychological warfare and refused to respond to the PIJ’s claims that it will soon release hostages.
‘This is a sign of life, and it is important,’ Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said when asked about the videos.
‘I will, for the moment, ignore the question of their release… We will be the first to update the families before anything happens.’
Yagil was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his 16-year-old brother Or on October 7.
The boys had been asleep and home alone when terrorists launched their barbaric attack on their village.
They sealed themselves in a safe room and called their mother, Renana Gome, who survived an attack on another Kibbutz where she had been staying with her daughter.
The boys’ mother said they were ‘scared to death’ and had to whisper to her over the phone as she heard voices speaking in Arabic in the background.
Yagil’s older brother desperately tried to hold the door shut as the terrorists forced their way in.
The last thing she heard Yagil saying was: ‘Don’t take me, I’m too young.’
Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooperbeing released by Hamas terrorists on October 23
Renana has since shared her harrowing account of the horrific day in an animated short film, detailing what happened to her sons who she fears are being held in one of the terrorists’ underground tunnels.
‘I hope they’re together, keeping each other strong and hope they’re with other children,’ she said in the aftermath of her sons’ abduction.
The hostage videos are the first to be released by the PIJ, while several hostages have been filmed speaking from captivity by Hamas.
The first video released by the terrorists was of 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was cruelly taken when Hamas stormed the Nova music festival where it slaughtered around 260 people.
She appears to be injured in the heartbreaking video message, during which she pleads with the Israeli government: ‘I only ask that you get me out of here as soon as possible. Please.’
Hamas has so far released four of the around 240 hostages it is holding, with the help of mediation by Qatar.
Late last month, American mother Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, 17, were freed by the terrorists.
Posters showing the kidnapped, Israeli Dafna Elyakim and Israeli-Argentinians Yuval and Ronan Engel are seen as people gather outside the Qatari Embassy in London on October 29, 2023
A few days later, 85-year-old grandmother Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper – also known as Nurit Yitzhak – were handed back to Israel.
Many of the desperate families of those still being held have urged Israel to agree an ‘everyone-for-everyone’ prisoner swap, freeing some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The White House today announced that Israel has agreed to begin daily four-hour humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza as part of an effort to get hostages out.
Smoke is seen rising from Sderot City after Israeli airstrikes on Thursday, November 9
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, shows flares being fired by Israeli troops
National Security Advisor John Kirby said: ‘Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand.
‘We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause (and) that this process is starting today.’
He said the pauses could help in ‘getting all 239 hostages back with their families to include the less than 10 Americans that we know are being held. So if we can get all the hostages out, that’s a nice finite goal.
Joe Biden said it had taken ‘longer than I hoped’ to secure the humanitarian pauses
‘Humanitarian pauses can be useful in the transfer process.’
President Joe Biden revealed that he had also asked the Israelis for a ‘pause longer than three days’ in a sign of fraying patience behind the scenes between the allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted there will be no ceasefire while Hamas continues to hold the hostages.
Mr Biden said it had ‘taken a little longer’ than he hoped for Israel to agree to the daily pauses in fighting, adding there was ‘no possibility’ of a formal ceasefire for now.
Palestinians fleeing north Gaza walk towards the south on Thursday, hours before the pause in fighting was announced
A family crouches in the ruins of their home which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah
The pressure for an evacuation window reflected growing concern among Israel’s international allies and detractors about the spiralling civilian death toll since the outbreak of fighting last month.
The Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday that 10,812 people, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel declared war after October 7.
In a further sign that Israel’s window of legitimacy for continuing its war was starting to close, French president Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference yesterday with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians, saying ‘all lives have equal worth’ and fighting terrorism ‘can never be carried out without rules’.
During a visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the calls for a ceasefire were ‘understandable’ but Britain recognised that Israel was acting for ‘its own security’.