As Israel gears for the Rafah ground offensive, Hamas's armed wing has released another hostage video mounting pressure on Tel Aviv to work out a truce deal.
In the video, a man identifies himself as Nadav Popplewell, 51, who had been held hostage in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim.
The Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had released the 11-second footage. The video is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: "Time is running out. Your government is lying".
Reportedly, Popplewell was kidnapped along with his mother Channa Peri, who was released in November last year. In the video, he appears bruised in one of the eyes.
The video posted on the group's Telegram channel was the third hostage footage released in less than a month.
A video showing two hostages alive--Keith Siegel and Omri Miran--was released by the group on April 27. Another video was released three days before showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.
Around 250 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip when Hamas attacked southern Israel. According to Israeli officials, around 128 is still believed to be held captive in Gaza.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been under immense pressure from the families of hostages to work out on a truce deal paving the release of them. Protests were staged in Tel Aviv and other parts of the country demanding the release of the hostages.
