Hamas’ armed wing, the Azzedine al-Qassam Brigades, on Saturday released a video of an Israeli hostage being held in Gaza following the October 2023 attack.
In the three-and-a-half-minute undated video recording, which AFP could not verify, 19-year-old soldier Liri Albagh asked in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure his release.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group for relatives of the abducted, said Albagh’s family had not authorized the publication of the video.
“We appeal to the Prime Minister, world leaders and all decision makers: this is the time to make decisions as if it were your own children,” the family said in a statement.
Albagh was 18 years old when she was captured by Palestinian militants at the Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border along with six other female soldiers, five of whom are still in captivity.
Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released several videos of Israeli hostages in their custody during the nearly 15-month war in Gaza.
Militants captured 251 hostages during the 2023 attack, 96 of whom remained in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of them have been killed.
Hamas said late Friday that indirect talks with Israel for a ceasefire and hostage release agreement were to resume in Qatar the same night. There has been no update since then.
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged for months in an effort that has failed to end the war.
Weekly demonstrations organized by the Hostages Forum, the latest of which was held in Tel Aviv on Saturday, have kept up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a deal to free the hostages.
The prime minister’s critics in Israel have accused him of blocking a deal.
The platform said the latest video was “convincing and undeniable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home”.
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said he had authorized Israeli negotiators to join the latest round of ceasefire and hostage release talks in Qatar.
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