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Hamas releases new video of Israeli hostages as war marks 100-day, says it will disclose their fate

Hamas released a video showing three hostages: Noa Argamani, Yossi Sharabi, and Itay Svirski, who were abducted on the day the militant group barged into the neighbouring nation and killed over 1400 Israeli civilians.

Edited By: Ajeet Kumar @Ajeet1994 Gaza Published : Jan 15, 2024 10:31 IST, Updated : Jan 15, 2024 10:31 IST
Gaza releases video of hostages
Image Source : REUTERS Liora Argamani, mother of hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was filmed as she was being abducted during the deadly October 7 attack.

Israel-Hamas war: As the ongoing war crosses the 100-day mark, Hamas aired a video on Sunday, showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza in which they urged their government to stop the offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group and bring about their release. The updated 37-second video of Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, ended with the chyron: "Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate."

Hamas said earlier on Sunday it had lost contact with some hostages as Israeli forces shelled Gaza, noting that they might have been killed in the process. At the outset of the war, it also threatened to execute hostages in retaliation for Israeli military strikes.

Israeli officials have generally declined to respond to Hamas' public messaging on the hostages, casting it as psychological warfare. Hagar Mizrahi, a forensic official with Israel's Health Ministry, told local TV on December 31 that autopsies of slain hostages who had been recovered found causes of death inconsistent with Hamas' account they had died in air strikes.

But Israel has also made clear it is aware of the risks to hostages from its offensive and is taking precautions. "The military operation takes time. It obligates us to be precise, and we are adapting it in accordance with the threats and the hostages who are in the field," chief armed forces spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Sunday. Of some 240 people seized by Hamas in an October 7 cross-border killing spree that sparked the war, around half were released in a November truce. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and that 25 of them have died in captivity.

The hostage crisis has riveted Israelis reeling from the worst attack in their history. Some hostages' relatives have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enter another truce or even call off the war. He has vowed to fight on until Hamas is destroyed, which he argued would enable the hostages' release. Last month, Netanyahu said in parliament he had asked Beijing to help free Argamani, whose mother Liora is Chinese. Suffering from a terminal illness, Liora Argamani has appealed to be reunited with her daughter before she dies.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Also Read: EXPLAINED: Killing of Hamas no. 2 Saleh al-Arouri could lead to expansion of war's footprints in Middle East

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