Hamas broadcast a video on Telegram, which Agence France-Presse (AFP) viewed, in which three Israeli hostages appear, two of whom present themselves as soldiers, Friday January 26. The three women were formally identified by the AFP, based on official or community sources, as being among those taken as hostages during the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 on Israel and held captive since then in the Strip. from Gaza.
In the video, which lasts just under five minutes, the three young women appear separately one after the other in front of a gray background. Speaking in Hebrew, they take turns accusing the Israeli government of being disinterested in their fate, before appearing together on screen to demand their immediate return home.
Two of them, Karina Ariev and Daniella Gilboa, present themselves as soldiers, both aged 19; the third, Doron Steinbrecher, is a 30-year-old civilian. All three claim to have been detained for one hundred and seven days, which suggests that the images were filmed on Sunday January 21.
The video was released hours after the decision of the highest court of the United Nations calling on Israel to prevent any possible act of “genocide” and to allow humanitarian access to Gaza. During the October 7 attack, some 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. A hundred were released at the end of November, during a truce in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, 104 hostages are still held captive in Palestinian territory, and 28 are believed to have died.