Ariane Ménage, with AFP / Photo credit: HOSTAGES AND MISSING FAMILIES FORUM CAMPAIGN GROUP / AFP
The Israeli war cabinet on Thursday gave the green light to continue negotiations for the release of hostages in Gaza after images were broadcast in Israeli media showing the capture of five female soldiers on October 7 by Hamas terrorists. In this sequence of just over 3 minutes, taken from a two-hour video filmed on Go-pro by Hamas terrorists according to the families, we can see these young women, some with bloody faces, sitting on the ground in pajamas, their hands tied behind their backs by their captors.
Some try to speak to them in English, with terrified and imploring looks in this video montage decried by Hamas. Then, under the screams of Hamas terrorists, they are taken away in a military jeep, against a backdrop of a burst of gunfire. “It is time to act otherwise the blood of my sister and the other hostages will be on the hands” of the Israeli government, told AFP Sasha Ariev, 24, sister of one of the soldiers, Karina Ariev. “Everyone has now seen these young girls in pajamas taken captive (…), the only victory is to bring them back quickly and alive,” adds Sasha Ariev.
For her, the broadcast of these images must mark “a 180-degree turn” in the decisions of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure to bring the hostages back to Israel. These images will “strengthen my determination to fight with all my strength until the elimination of Hamas, to guarantee that what we saw this evening will never happen again,” Benjamin Netanyahu reacted on Wednesday, before meeting late in in the evening his war cabinet. The latter agreed to “continue negotiations” for the release of the hostages, Benjamin Netanyahu’s services indicated, without elaborating.
In early May, indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, via mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States, failed to reach an agreement for a multi-week truce in Gaza associated with the liberation hostages.
“Traumatizing”
“The images reveal the violent, humiliating and traumatic treatment that the girls suffered on the day of their kidnapping,” said the Hostage Families Forum in a statement. The video, “which lasts 3 minutes and 10 seconds, was edited and censored to exclude the most disturbing scenes, such as the numerous young men and young women murdered at the Nahal Oz base (…) as well as numerous scenes of “extreme brutality”, specifies the press release.
More than 50 soldiers were killed on October 7 at the Nahal Oz base, which was stormed by Hamas terrorists. At this base, 15 unarmed women responsible for guarding the border behind screens were killed that day, according to the Israeli army. Seven were taken hostage. One of these soldiers was freed in an Israeli military operation and the body of another was found in Gaza and brought back to Israel.
“Selection of images” according to Hamas
Of the 252 people taken as hostages during the October 7 attack, 124 are still being held in Gaza, including 37 dead according to the army. Images of the hostage soldiers had circulated since October 7 but the video extracts broadcast on Wednesday are new, the families having agreed to broadcast them in order to accelerate a negotiation process which would lead to their release.
In a statement, Hamas denounced a video montage that was “manipulated”, with a “selection of images” aimed at supporting the “false allegations of the occupation” to thus “tarnish the image of the resistance”. “There were traces of blood or minor injuries on some of the female soldiers, which was normal in such operations… but there was no physical attack against any of them,” added the Islamist movement by saying “treat well” the hostages.