Hamas releases video of two Israeli hostages held in Gaza

Hamas has released a video showing two Israeli hostages seized from a music festival during its cross-border attack in October 2023.

The video claims to show Guy Gilboa-Dalal in Gaza City in late August, where he says he and eight others are being held and will remain despite Israel’s planned ground offensive. It also shows captive Alon Ohel.

Earlier videos of hostages released by their captors in Gaza have been condemned by world leaders and families as propaganda.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for the full occupation of Gaza in response, claiming this was the only way to “bring back the hostages in security”.

The video shows Mr Gilboa-Dalal, who was seized from the Nova festival in southern Israel, pleading for his release. In footage dated 28 August, he is filmed in a car in what he says is Gaza City.

The footage also shows Mr Ohel for the first time since he was abducted in the attack 700 days ago. Mr Gilboa-Dalal was previously seen in a Hamas video in February.

They are two of the 48 hostages still being held by Hamas, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke “at length” with the parents of both men following the video’s release, according to a statement from his office.

It said he had reiterated that the war could end immediately should Hamas accept Israel’s conditions, which include the release of all hostages.

“No evil propaganda video will weaken us or divert us from our determination to achieve these goals,” the statement said.

But a group representing the families of hostages responded by saying anyone who “truly wants to bring back all 48 hostages” had to “immediately” return to the negotiating table.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X: “Those who genuinely want the hostages home should advance the agreement that is waiting for the Israeli government’s discussion and response, and leverage it toward a comprehensive deal for the return of all the hostages.”

The group held a rally in Tel Aviv’s “hostages square” on Friday, which marked 700 days since October 7 2023, to press the government to restart negotiations.

Hamas said in August that it had accepted a plan from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt which would see 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages released during a 60-day truce, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.

Israel has not responded to the plan, but insists all the hostages must be released in one go.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that Israeli military activity would “intensify” until Hamas accepted Israel’s conditions to end the war, threatening that the armed group would be “destroyed” otherwise.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Israeli negotiators to resume talks on a ceasefire deal to free the hostages.

On Friday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 30 Palestinians had been killed in the territory in the past 24 hours, including 20 in Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it had struck a tower block there, which it claimed was being used by Hamas.

It said precautionary measures had been taken to mitigate harm to civilians, “including advance warnings to the population” and the use of “precise munitions”.

It added that it had identified “significant Hamas terrorist activity within a wide variety of infrastructure sites in Gaza City, and particularly in high-rise buildings,” adding it would target those sites “in the coming days”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans a month ago to take control of Gaza City after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down in July.

Israel has intensified its operations around Gaza City in recent weeks, and says its offensive has established control of some 40% of the city, which it claims is a stronghold of Hamas.

The UN and aid groups have warned that the offensive is already having “horrific humanitarian consequences” for displaced families sheltering in the city, which is home to a million people and where a famine was confirmed last month.

Satellite imagery shows several neighbourhoods in parts of the city have been levelled by Israeli strikes and demolitions over the past month.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led 7 October attack in 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 more were taken hostage.

At least 64,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The ministry also says 376 people have died during the war so far as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including three over the past 24 hours.