Palestinian Islamic Jihad group releases disturbing ‘sign of life’ videos of Israeli boy, 13, and elderly woman, 77, being held hostage in Gaza
Palestinian terrorists have released disturbing new hostage videos of a 13-year-old boy and an older woman who were abducted when their kibbutz was stormed on October 7.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group has now shared the first ‘sign of life’ videos from each of the prisoners. The hostages look thin and exhausted as they talk to the camera, Hannah from what appears to be a wheelchair.
Both sharply criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and blame him for the ongoing situation. It’s not clear if they’re reading from a script.
The PIJ – which is affiliated with but separate from Hamas – shared another video claiming it was willing to release the couple for “humanitarian and medical reasons” but only if “appropriate measures” are met.
Palestinian militants of the Islamic Jihad movement take part 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 are being held in one of the terrorists’ underground tunnels. Pictured: excerpt from an animated video about the kidnapping of the boys
Renana Gome said the last thing she heard Yagil say was, “Don’t take me, I’m too young.” Pictured: excerpt from an animated video about the kidnapping of the boys
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group has now shared the first ‘sign of life’ videos of each of the prisoners
Israel has condemned it as psychological warfare and refused to respond to PIJ claims that it will soon release hostages.
“This is a sign of life, and it is important,” Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said when asked about the videos.
“I will ignore the issue of their release for now… We will be the first to notify the families before anything happens.”
Yagil was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 along with his 16-year-old brother Or.
The boys were asleep and alone at home when terrorists launched their barbaric attack on their village.
They locked themselves in a safe room and called their mother, Renana Gome, who survived an attack on another kibbutz where she was staying with her daughter.
The boys’ mother said they were “terrified” and had to whisper to her over the phone when she heard voices speaking in Arabic in the background.
Yagil’s older brother desperately tried to keep the door closed as the terrorists forced their way inside.
The last thing she heard Yagil say was, “Don’t take me, I’m too young.”
Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper are 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 are together, keeping each other strong and being with other children,” she said in the aftermath of her sons’ kidnapping.
The hostage videos are the first released by the PIJ, while several hostages have been filmed from captivity by Hamas.
The first video released by the terrorists was of 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was brutally taken when Hamas stormed the Nova music festival, where around 260 people were massacred.
She appears to have been injured in the heartbreaking video message, in 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 approximately 240 hostages it is holding, with the help of mediation by Qatar.
At the end of last month, American mother Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie were released by the terrorists.
Posters featuring 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 returned to Israel.
Many of the desperate families of those still held have urged Israel to agree to an “anyone-for-all” prisoner swap that would free some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons .
The White House announced today that Israel has agreed to implement four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its attack on Hamas in northern Gaza, as part of an effort to get hostages out.
Smoke rises from the town of Sderot after Israeli airstrikes on Thursday, November 9
This photo, taken from the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip border, shows flares being fired by Israeli forces
National Security Adviser John Kirby said: ‘Israel will implement four-hour breaks each day in areas of northern Gaza, with three hours’ notice.
“The Israelis have told us that there will be no military operations in these areas during the pause(s) that this process begins today.”
He said the breaks could help “return all 239 hostages to their families, including the fewer than 10 Americans 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 breaks
‘Humanitarian breaks can be helpful in the transfer process.’
President Joe Biden revealed he had also asked Israelis for a “pause of longer than three days,” in a sign of waning patience behind the scenes between the allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that there will be no ceasefire as long as Hamas continues to hold the hostages.
Biden said it had taken “a little longer” than he had hoped for Israel to agree to the daily pauses in fighting, adding that there was “no possibility” of a formal ceasefire for now.
Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza headed south on Thursday, hours before the pause in fighting was announced
A family squats in the ruins of their home that was destroyed during an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah
The push to impose an evacuation period reflected growing concern among Israel’s international allies and adversaries over the rising number of civilian casualties since fighting broke out 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 legitimacy for continuing its war was beginning to close, French President Emmanuel Macron opened an aid conference in Gaza yesterday with a call for Israel to protect civilians, saying that “all lives are of equal value” and that the fight against terrorism is ‘possible’. never be carried out without rules’.
During a visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said calls for a ceasefire were “understandable” but Britain acknowledged that Israel was acting for “its own security.”