Martin Lange / Photo credit: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
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08:06, April 28, 2024
This Saturday, Hamas released a video showing two Israeli hostages alive. Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47, were kidnapped in the October 7 terrorist attack. For David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at Iris and conflict specialist, the date of publication of these videos owes nothing to chance.
Three days after broadcasting proof of the life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a young 23-year-old Israeli hostage, Hamas did it again. This Saturday, the terrorist movement published a video showing two living Israeli hostages, Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47. A sequence which takes place against the backdrop of negotiations, under Qatari and Egyptian mediation, with a view to a truce in the fighting in the Gaza Strip associated with the release of a certain number of hostages.
But, above all, these videos are part of “a communication strategy”, believes David Rigoulet-Roze, researcher associated with Iris and conflict specialist. “At the moment, it is the Jewish holiday of Passover, between April 22 and 30. It is therefore a very sensitive moment,” continues the expert. In the video, Omri Miran says he hopes to be reunited with his family for Israel’s Independence Day, May 14.
Psychological pressure on families but also on the government
For David Rigoulet-Roze, Hamas is using a “strategy of psychological pressure” on families here, but not only that. “Hamas does this knowing that there will be a repercussion of this pressure on the government. In the video, the hostage mentions the fact that the Israeli government, and particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, would have abandoned the hostages,” underlines -he.
The Hostage Families Forum reacted to the publication of this video, saying that “this proof of the lives of Keith Siegel and Omri Miran clearly shows that the Israeli government must do everything possible to conclude an agreement for the return of all hostages before Independence Day.