Hamas releases new video showing two Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7

This is the second such video in a few days. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages it kidnapped in an Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel and took to the Gaza Strip. The two hostages identified themselves as Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47. A forum for the families of the hostages confirmed their identities.

This new video is undated, but the latest indicates it has been in Hamas hands for 202 days. His 202nd day in captivity is Thursday. This comes amid negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt to achieve a truce in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, associated with the release of a certain number of hostages.

Speaking, presumably under pressure, Omri Miran describes a “complicated situation” due to “multiple Israeli bombings” in the Gaza Strip. He calls on his family to pressure the government to reach an agreement with Hamas to allow the hostages to be released. He says he hopes to be reunited with his family by Israel’s Independence Day on May 14.

Several videos are already broadcast

“This proof of the lives of Keith Siegel and Omri Miran clearly shows that the Israeli government must do everything possible to reach an agreement for the return of all hostages before Independence Day,” the hostages responded to the Israeli Families Forum.

The Palestinian Islamist movement had already released video footage of another Israeli hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Paulin, on Wednesday. Kidnapped at the Nova music festival, the 23-year-old said he suffered a serious injury on October 7, exposing his left forearm to be amputated just below the elbow.

Other hostage videos have also been released by Palestinian armed groups since the start of the war. In these videos, hostages talk about the conditions of their detention and call on the Israeli authorities to release them.

The unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on Israeli Hamas territory killed 1,170 people, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli data. About 250 people were also kidnapped. According to Israel, 129 people are still in the Gaza Strip, including 34 people considered dead by the Israeli army. The leaders of 18 countries, including the United States, France, Britain and Germany, on Thursday called for a joint text for their “immediate release.”