On Saturday, Hamas released another video of the two hostages, American-Israeli Keith Siegel and Israeli Omri Miran, who were taken hostage on 7 October. The families are demanding the start of negotiations regarding the release of the hostages, but the Prime Minister’s office refuses to comment.
Hamas has for the first time posted a video of the hostages who were taken on 7 October.
This is the first published video of Keith Siegel, 64, since he was abducted by Hamas. In the video, he is probably under duress, pleading with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate with Hamas for the release of the hostages. A second hostage, Omri Miran, 46, was taken when Hamas militants stormed his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, but his family survived, including a wife and two daughters.
No details yet on where or when the video was taken, but the hostages said they were unable to celebrate the Jewish holiday Pesach, which ends on Tuesday, and Miran said he has “been here for 202 days,” suggesting the video was taken on Thursday.
In a video released Saturday by the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, Siegel’s family reacted to the latest footage from Hamas. His wife Aviva, who was released in November as part of the latest hostage deal after 51 days in captivity, and daughters have expressed hope for release.
However, this is not the first hostage video published by Hamas in the past few days. On Wednesday, Hamas published a video of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on 7 October.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to begin hostage exchange talks: “The proof of life from Keith Siegel and Omri Miran is the clearest evidence that the Israeli government must do everything to approve a deal for the return of all the hostages before Independence Day (on May 14).”
The office of the Prime Minister of Israel refused to comment, as the position of Benjamin Netanyahu is very different from the position of Israelis, whose families have been in captivity for more than six months. But the Forum stressed:
“Now is the time for the government and its leader to prove through actions their commitment to the citizens of Israel who await the return of the hostages. The Israeli government must not miss this opportunity to bring them all home!”
Earlier, thousands of Israelis gathered in the streets of Israel to call for new elections to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for a deal with Hamas, which still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 people.
Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates. Israel’s response killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and injured more than 77,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
