Hamas releases shocking videos of three elderly Israeli hostages being held in Gaza strip
Three elderly Israeli hostages held by Hamas have begged to be released from captivity, asking Israel: “Don't let us grow old here.”
The prisoners, all dressed in dirty white T-shirts, said in a video published by Hamas via Telegram on Monday that they had no idea why they have not yet been rescued.
MailOnline will not publish the video.
One man, who identified himself as 79-year-old Haiem Bery, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, sat between two others of about the same age and spoke in Hebrew down the barrel of the camera.
He said he was held with other elderly hostages with chronic illnesses, and all lived in very harsh conditions.
Thousands of Palestinians are buried under the rubble of Gaza, the UN estimates
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas.
Qatar, Israel and the US have discussed reopening negotiations on a temporary ceasefire in recent days
The three men are among 10 remaining hostages over the age of 75, and the video is believed to be the first time any of them have been seen alive since they were taken on Black Saturday.
“We are the generation that laid the foundation for the creation of Israel. We are the ones who founded the IDF army. “We don't understand why we have been abandoned here,” he said.
“You have to get us out of here. It doesn't matter what the costs are. We do not want to be victims as a direct result of the IDF military airstrikes. Free us without conditions. Let us not grow old here,” he added.
The video ends with all three men repeating the phrase in unison: “Don't let us grow old here.”
An IDF spokesperson described the video as a “criminal terrorist video.”
A Hamas official in Beirut, Lebanon, said today that negotiations over the release of hostages were off the table until Israel “ends its war against Gaza.”
Hamas and other militant groups are believed to still be holding 129 foreign prisoners.
People sit by a fire outside one of the tents housing Palestinians displaced by the conflict in Gaza
Large plumes of smoke rise from northern Gaza as seen from the Israeli side of the border
Smoke rises after the Israeli bombardment of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
The comments come after it was confirmed that Qatar, Israel and the US had discussed reopening negotiations on a temporary ceasefire in recent days, although it is not clear whether Hamas was invited to these talks.
Hamas has released several videos of prisoners being held somewhere in Gaza in the two and a half months since it captured hundreds of hostages in the Black Saturday raid.
Late last month, it shared a video of captured Yarden Bibas, an Israeli father whose family was killed in an IDF airstrike.
Yarden, 34, was seen distraught and crying as he said: 'Bibi (Netanyahu) your airstrike has taken away my beloved family, now do what you can to bring them home so they can be buried at home.
“I beg you, take me, my wife and my children back home. Please, I beg you.”
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
Thousands more are buried under the rubble of Gaza, the UN estimates.
Israel says 127 of its soldiers were killed in the ground offensive after Hamas invaded southern Israel in October, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking about 240 hostages.