Hamas releases new footage of hostage victims

Warning: Disturbing content

Palestinian militant group Hamas has published a video showing brief statements by each of the six Israeli hostages before they were killed at the weekend.

It wasn’t clear when the clips were recorded but the move deepened the sense of grief felt by many Israelis. It came a day after the funeral of one of the hostages, Israeli-american Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

The hostages killed (clockwise from top left): Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov and Almog Sarusi.Credit: AP

On Monday, Hamas released a video of Eden Yerushalmi, a 24-year-old woman who had been working as a bartender at the Nova music festival on October 7 when Hamas crossed the border and attacked people in southern Israel.

In the video, Yerushalmi spoke about her love for her parents and sisters, saying she missed them, the New York Times reported.

The hostages killed over the weekend were captured in the October 7 attack. Israel has said they were killed shortly before its military forces reached them in a tunnel under Gaza.

Indicted: Yahya Sinwar.Credit: AP

Israel has called the videos “psychological warfare”, with rights groups pointing out that they were made under duress, and their production can constitute a war crime, the New York Times reported.

Several of the six were on the list of hostages expected to be released in the first phase of a deal brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, which has been stalled for several months.

The release of the videos comes as the US Justice Department announced on Tuesday (US time) that it had charged six senior leaders of Hamas with terrorism and conspiracy to kill Americans, days after six hostages including an Israeli-US citizen were slain in the Gaza Strip.

The charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other top operatives were filed in February and include counts linked to the assault on Israel as well as a string of other attacks over more than a decade. In a statement, US Attorney-General Merrick Garland said the Hamas leaders had financed and directed a decades-long campaign to murder Americans and endanger US national security.

“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations,” Garland said. “These actions will not be our last. The Justice Department has a long memory.”

Garland cited the death of Goldberg-Polin, in his statement. He said the department was investigating his killing as an act of terrorism.

The Justice Department didn’t say why it waited until Tuesday to unseal the charges.

The Biden administration has worked for months to forge a ceasefire accord that would end the fighting in the Gaza Strip and lead to the release of the hostages. Israel and Hamas have so far failed to agree on a proposal put forward by the US, Qatar and Egypt. On Tuesday, White House spokesman John Kirby said “the killing over the weekend just underscores the sense of urgency that we have to have”.

Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. The October 7 attack killed some 1200 people, including about 40 Americans. Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza to eliminate Hamas has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.

Bloomberg