Hamas has launched a video of a 19-year-old Israeli hostage amid a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In an undated recording, Liri Albag – one of five female soldiers kidnapped in Hamas’s October 7 assault – speaks beneath duress and shares her anguish at having been held for 450 days.
Talking in Hebrew, she requires the Israeli authorities to safe her launch and says: “At present is the start of a brand new yr; the entire world is celebrating. Solely we’re getting into a darkish yr, a yr of loneliness.”
Ms Albag – who has turned 19 whereas being held hostage – provides {that a} fellow, unnamed captive has been injured. “We live in a particularly terrifying nightmare,” she says.
{The teenager}’s household mentioned the video has “torn our hearts to items”.
“This isn’t the daughter and sister we all know. Her extreme psychological misery is obvious,” they mentioned in a press release shared by the Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board.
The household has not given permission for the video of Ms Albag to be shared publicly however they’ve authorised the discharge of two photographs.
Ms Albag’s family members are calling on the Israeli authorities and world leaders to make use of the present ceasefire talks to convey all remaining hostages again alive.
“It is time to make selections as if your personal youngsters had been there,” they mentioned.
The workplace for Israel‘s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, mentioned he has spoken Ms Albag’s dad and mom and advised them efforts to convey hostages house are “ongoing, together with at this very second”.
“Anybody who dares to hurt our hostages will bear full accountability for his or her actions,” he mentioned.
Learn extra:
Timeline of events since October 7 attack
Gaza’s health system ‘on brink of collapse’
Roughly 250 individuals had been taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and as of December final yr, 96 remained in the group’s custody.
Israel’s subsequent navy offensive in Gaza has killed not less than 45,805 Palestinians, in keeping with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
It mentioned 88 individuals have been killed up to now 24 hours. No less than 17 had been killed in airstrikes on properties in Gaza Metropolis on Saturday.
A number of youngsters had been amongst those that died, medics mentioned.
Palestinians collect on the web site of an Israeli strike on a home in Gaza Metropolis. Pic: Reuters
Hamas’s video of Ms Albag, and Israel’s airstrikes, come amid a contemporary push for an settlement to finish the battle in Gaza.
Israeli representatives arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Friday to renew oblique ceasefire talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Hamas has mentioned it’s dedicated to reaching an settlement, however it’s unclear how shut the 2 sides are.
Joe Biden, whose US presidency involves an finish in simply over a fortnight’s time, has urged Hamas to agree a deal – whereas president-elect Donald Trump has said there will “be hell to pay” in Gaza if the hostages are usually not launched earlier than his inauguration on 20 January.
