The radical Palestinian movement Hamas today released a new video of one of the hostages its gunmen kidnapped in the October 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel. Press agencies and Israeli media reported on it.
Herš Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli with American citizenship, appears in the approximately two-minute long video. The man has had his left forearm amputated following an injury he sustained during the violence at the Nova music festival on the Israeli border from where he was abducted, but otherwise appears healthy and speaks with vigor. In the video, which Israeli media described as a propaganda piece by Hamas, he blames Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to secure the release of all the captives and claims, among other things, that Israeli bombing has killed 70 other hostages.
The video is undated, but Goldberg-Polin mentions 200 days in captivity. The war in the Gaza Strip entered its 200th day on Tuesday. Shortly after the video was posted on the Hamas Telegram account, the hostage’s family gave permission to the media to distribute and use it.
Hersh’s mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, is actively campaigning for the release of her son and the other hostages. This year, Time magazine chose her in its list of the hundred most influential people in the world after she met a number of world statesmen and personalities in her efforts, including US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.
Today, in response to the published video, Hersh’s parents expressed relief that their son is alive, but also concern for his health and the condition of the other hostages. At the same time, they again called on the representatives of all countries involved in the mediated ceasefire negotiations to finally reach an agreement.
In a surprise attack on October 7, Hamas and its allies killed almost 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged another 250 people to the Gaza Strip in a surprise attack on the Israeli border. In the first and so far only ceasefire in the last week of November, Hamas released over 100 hostages, most of them in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. During the retaliatory massive military operation of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip with the aim of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages, more than 34,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since October, according to the authorities controlled by this movement. This figure also includes the killed fighters of Hamas and other armed groups.
Tags: Hamas #released video #23yearold #kidnapped man #amputated #forearm
