On the 100th day of the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian militant group released a 37-second-long video showing Israeli hostages urging their government to "stop the offensive" against Hamas and to "bring them home". Israel has termed the video, edited-together clips, a deplorable psychological warfare.
The undated video, believed to be shot somewhere in Gaza, features hostages who identified themselves as 26-year-old Noa Argamani, 53-year-old Yossi Sharabi and 38-year-old Itai Svirsky. It ended with the chyron: "Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate."
Hamas said earlier on Sunday that it had lost contact with some hostages as Israeli forces shelled Gaza, adding that they might have been killed in the process. Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida, in his first televised appearance for several weeks, said: "Most likely, many of them were killed recently, the rest are in great danger every hour and the enemy’s leadership and army bear full responsibility."
HOstages Noa Argamani, Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, seen in an undated Hamas propaganda film released to mark 100th day of war | The Times of Israel
He added that "any talks before stopping the Israeli aggression are worthless." Obeida also said that Hamas has been told by "several parties in the resistance fronts that they will expand their strikes on the Israeli enemy in the coming days."
Meanwhile, the families of those seized by Hamas continue to call for their release with some urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enter another truce or even call off the war. The families of the captives said they are "frustrated and suffocated" by the lack of progress in the hostage deal. Naama Weinberg, whose cousin Itai Svirsky was kidnapped while visiting his family on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, told CNN last week that she was angered by the killing of a top Hamas commander in Lebanon earlier this month. She said some of Israel’s "military action" is "directly endangering the hostages." "The country’s leadership must put the release of the hostages at the top of its priority list," Weinberg said.
However, Israel claimed that the military operation takes time. "It obligates us to be precise, and we are adapting it in accordance with the threats and the hostages who are in the field," IDF Spokesman Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, protests were held across the world, both in support of Palestine and Israel. In Pakistan's Karachi, tens of thousands waved Palestinian flags or wore the keffiyeh to express their solidarity with Palestinians in a rally organised by the country's largest religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami while protesters in London held posters with photos and the words 100 days in hell to express their solidarity with Israel.
