JACK GUEZ / AFP
The video shows Liri Albag, a 19-year-old Israeli woman, speaking in Hebrew and calling on the Israeli government to act to secure her release. (Photo of Liri Albag’s family, January 4, 2025 in Tel Aviv)
GAZA – The armed wing of Hamas published on Saturday a new video of one of the people kidnapped on October 7, 2023 during the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement carried out in Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The video, approximately 3 minutes and 30 seconds long, whose date of recording cannot be verified, shows a young woman speaking in Hebrew and calling on the Israeli government to act to secure her release.
The family of the hostage, Liri Albag, a 19-year-old Israeli woman, authorized the publication of screenshots of the video, said the Families Forum, the main association of relatives of hostages held in the Gaza Strip .
“We appeal to the Prime Minister, world leaders and all decision-makers: it is time to make decisions as if your own children were there”said the Albag family in a statement.
Abducted during her military service
The young woman was kidnapped while doing her military service at the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel, along with six other soldiers, five of whom are still held captive.
The Families Forum indicated in a press release that this sign of life was “hard and undeniable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home”.
A rally for the release of the hostages is to be held in the evening in Tel Aviv, like every Saturday for more than a year, as well as in Jerusalem and other localities in Israel.
Israel confirms resumption of negotiations
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed movement which participated in the October 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza, have already released videos of hostages in the past. The latest comes as Hamas announced on Friday the resumption of indirect negotiations with Israel in Doha for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed this information on Saturday evening. He also informed his parents “ongoing efforts to free the hostages, including the Israeli delegation that left yesterday (Friday) for talks in Qatar”his office said in a statement.
He added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given “precise directives for the continuation of negotiations”.
An $8 billion arms sale
At the same time, the American administration of Joe Biden announced on Saturday an arms sale to Israel estimated at $8 billion, shortly before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The sale, which must still be approved by Congress, notably includes anti-aircraft defense munitions, according to a source close to the matter.
Since the start of the war, only one one-week truce has been observed, in November 2023, during which 105 hostages were released, as well as 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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