‘Last messages’: Hamas taunts families of hostages with haunting footage of victims before their deaths

Hamas has taunted the grieving families of the six hostages found slain in a Gaza tunnel by releasing haunting new footage of the victims.

Hamas has taunted the grieving families of the six hostages found slain in a Gaza tunnel by releasing haunting new footage of the victims.

The hostages, looking gaunt and exhausted, identify themselves for the camera before the footage transitions to still frames.

In a sick twist, the terrorist propaganda video also threatens to release the captives’ “last messages” in a matter of hours.

“Hours & We will release their last statements,” the video text said in Hebrew, English and Arabic.

It is not clear when the footage was taken.

Hamas has released a sickening new video of the six slain hostages. Picture: X

It’s believed the hostages were shot at close range multiple times a few days before their bodies were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday night.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahi said Hamas militants “executed” the hostages by shooting them in the back of the head.

The dead hostages have been identified as US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

Autopsies indicated that the group endured nearly 11 months in captivity before they were killed.

Hamas previously released similar videos of October 7 hostages — footage that the Israeli government has denounced as a form of psychological warfare.

Eden Yerushalmi was one of the hostages featured in the video. Picture: X

American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, also featured in the video. Picture: X

Past Hamas videos included a brief message from Goldberg-Polin. It was released in April.

In the video, Goldberg-Polin identified himself as Israeli and said he had been held captive for “nearly 200 days,” which suggested that the video was taken shortly before it was released.

The dual American-Israeli citizen was missing part of his left arm, which was blown off by a Hamas grenade when the Palestinian terror group descended on the Nova music festival in southern Negev during the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

Goldberg-Polin saw his friend Aner Shapira murdered by the attackers before he and a handful of other injured survivors were carted off to the Gaza Strip in the back of a pickup truck, horrifying footage of the abduction showed.

His body and those of the five other slain hostages found Saturday were released to their families over the weekend.

Relatives of Goldberg-Polin were joined by thousands of mourners at his funeral service in Jerusalem on Monday.

His mother, Rachel Goldberg, begged her murdered son for forgiveness for not being able to bring him home alive.

“If there was something we could have done to save you, and we didn’t think of it, I beg your forgiveness. We tried so very hard, so deeply and desperately. I’m sorry,” she said during the ceremony.

Goldberg and Hersh’s father, Jon Polin, traveled the world over the past 11 months rallying support for their son and the other hostages.

The couple spoke with The Post in early April to mark the six months since their eldest child and only son was abducted.

‘’It’s totally unacceptable that it’s six months, and we’re not yet seeing any real traction on getting our loved ones home,” Polin said at the time.

“All of us — our political leaders, across Israel, across the US, Hamas, Egypt, Qatar — we’re all failing [the hostages].”

Outpouring of grief and anger in Israel, Netanyahu

The killing of the six hostages has spurred an outpouring of grief in Israel as well as anger at the government for not sealing a deal that would have secured their release.

As thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Monday for a second consecutive day of demonstrations criticising the government, Netanyahu sought forgiveness for not being able to save them but also appealed for unity.

He called on the international community to apply more pressure on Hamas to end the war triggered by the militants’ unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel.

“We say yes, they say no all the time, but they also murdered these people and now we need maximum pressure on Hamas,” he said.

“Hamas has to make the concessions.” Netanyahu also insisted on Monday that Israeli forces must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, which has emerged as a primary sticking point in talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from the area as part of the stalled talks.

“The achievement of the war’s objectives goes through the Philadelphi Corridor,” Netanyahu said.

“Control of the Philadelphi axis guarantees that the hostages will not be smuggled out of Gaza,” he added.

“I will not give in to pressure.”

Of 251 people taken hostage during the October 7 attack, 97 remain in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

- With AFP, The NY Post