Hamas publishes a video of two hostages in Gaza, their families: “Now Israel must choose between the kidnapped and war”

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas published a video with two of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. This was announced on Telegram by the “Quds News Press” media, according to which one of the prisoners said: “It’s time to reach an agreement that leaves us alive.”

“The government must choose between the hostages and war,” family members of the prisoners said in a statement released after the video was released. The military pressure that according to the government should have pushed the group to release the hostages failed, the statement reads, according to the Times of Israel newspaper. The family members said that “entering Rafah will be another way to let the kidnapped die”, referring to the military operation that the Israeli authorities have announced they want to carry out in the southern city of the Strip, where there are around 1.5 million displaced. “Israel must choose to return the hostages,” reiterates the statement, which also calls for the prime minister to be replaced Benjamin Netanyahu, held responsible for the failure to reach an agreement for the release of the prisoners.

Meanwhile, the clashes on the border between Lebanon and Israel can only stop after reaching a ceasefire in the Strip, said the number two of the pro-Iranian Shiite party Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, during a speech held in Beirut, as reported by the Lebanese broadcaster “Lbci”. Those who support an end to hostilities in Lebanon “to give relief to Israel so that it can continue operations in Gaza (…) are inviting us to support the Israeli enemy,” Qassem said, reiterating: “We stand with Gaza and of Palestine (…) therefore the ceasefire must start from the Strip”. Since 8 October 2023, in the aftermath of the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against the Jewish state, daily clashes have been going on between Hezbollah militiamen and Israeli forces along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

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