Families of several kidnapped Israeli Defense Forces soldiers have released a video of their missing loved ones in an effort to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly rejected agreements for their release.
The footage, which shows several women bound and bloodied, was originally released by Hamas, and was edited by the IDF before being given to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Every new testimony about what happened to the hostages echoes the same tragic truth – we must bring them all back home, now,” the group said in a press release Wednesday.
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One of the soldiers in the video, Ori Megidish, was rescued 23 days after being kidnapped. Another of the IDF soldiers in the video, Noa Marciano, was reportedly killed by an Israeli airstrike.
The other five soldiers remain in captivity, some of the 130 hostages the IDF believes remain in Gaza.
Israel has killed over 35,000 people in Gaza, as part of its ongoing military campaign to eradicate Hamas from the region. The massive operation has only resulted in the rescue of three of the Israeli hostages who were snatched on October 7.
Many in Israel have criticized Netanyahu for appearing more concerned with rooting out every member of the Palestinian militia group than ensuring the safe return of hostages. Thousands of protesters recently gathered in Tel Aviv to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Earlier this week, Karim Khan, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, announced that he would seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu, as well as the leader of Hamas, a move which the Prime Minster decried as a “hit job.”
On Tuesday, as Israel has advanced with its deadly military campaign in Rafah, the U.N. announced that it will halt the distribution of food in the already embattled city that is full of starving Palestinian refugees.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, another peace deal between Hamas and Israel fell apart, CNN reported.
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