The bodies of the six hostages – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40 and Almog Sarusi, 27 – were returned to their families on Sept. 1.
During their funerals, which took place the following day, relatives of other victims expressed their grief and frustration at the lack of progress in securing the release of the hostages over the past 11 months. That same day, Hamas posted a black-and-white video on their official Telegram account of the six hostages before they were executed.
The video showed the six hostages gaunt and exhausted as they each identified themselves.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated that based on their initial assessment, the hostages were fatally shot at close range between two to three days before their bodies were discovered during an IDF operation on Aug. 31 in a tunnel below Rafah in southern Gaza. (Related: IDF recovers 6 bodies of Israeli hostages from Gaza tunnels.)
At the end of Hamas' video, the group sent a message in Hebrew, English and Arabic texts warning that the "last messages" of the six hostages would be released "in a matter of hours."
The newly released video is part of a series of disturbing videos released to allegedly ignite "psychological terror" among Israelis.
For instance, Hamas released another video on Sept. 3 featuring Danino, one of the slain six hostages who was abducted during the Re'im music festival massacre in southern Negev on Oct. 7. However, it was not clear when the video was filmed.
Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli-American citizen abducted during the same music festival massacre, also appeared in another video released in April. At the time, Goldberg-Polin, who lost a part of his left arm due to a Hamas grenade attack on Oct. 7, identified himself as being held captive for "nearly 200 days." Meaning, the footage was only taken shortly before its release that month.
All this has intensified public anger in Israel, where protests have erupted outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. Demonstrators called for a ceasefire and demanded the government take action to secure the release of other hostages still in captivity. Protesters blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for sacrificing Israeli citizens to stay in power as the extremist members of his coalition threatened to bring down the government once he ended the war.
Because of Netanyahu's stance, Tahani Mustafa, a senior Palestine analyst at Belgium-based think tank Crisis Group, thinks that Hamas no longer believes that keeping hostages gives it power over Israel.
"Hamas has taken the hostage issue out of the equation. It knows that this current Israeli administration is not interested in any kind of hostage release deal," Mustafa said. "I don’t think Hamas considers them as substantial playing cards any longer."
Learn more about the conflict in Israel and Palestine at IsraelCollapse.com.
Watch this report from Al Jazeera discussing Hezbollah's recent missile barrage involving over 200 rockets aimed at military installations in Israel.
This video is from the channel Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth on Brighteon.com.
Israelis flood streets in protest against Netanyahu’s stalling of Gaza ceasefire deal.
Members of Israeli negotiating team accuse Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging ceasefire deal.
After months of denials, IDF finally admits responsibility for KILLING Israeli hostages on October 7.
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7 months ago
The main thing to realise about the Jews, and in no way is it correct to oppress them or stop them from having gainful employment in your hospitals, courts, universities, banks, much more. I personally see a Jew as equal to a Scientologist. Both have beliefs which seem irrational to me. Doesn’t stop me being KIND to all and treating you with respect now does it?
This means that I am a more worthy person than Netanyahu if I promote my ideas which promote a family of man not a house of hate. Netanyahu hated Palestinians. I didn’t.
The worst thing of all is that when Netanyahu is facing the same hanging as Saddam Hussein I will be the loudest to beg for mercy and ask us all to get along and be tolerant.
Just remove Netanyahu from your newsfeed. Then his power diminishes.
7 months ago
They wanted an excuse to steal the land, so shut up and enjoy your blood lust achievement.
7 months ago
At this point in time I cannot tell if Hamas are Islamists or actors. My main query is not “What side must I take?” but “What effect is this News narrative having on the people who live in other countries?”
I believe the effect is one of getting us to accept that which was previously unacceptable. In other words we are experiencing a breakdown of our critical faculties. And it won’t stop there. Something even worse is in the planning. What? I don’t know. My best guess is an alien invasion when my own critical faculties tell me that only Earth can support life 🌍. Either way we are doomed and not because some fancy prophecy calls a shot or 2. Some evil men do these, to them, rituals, in order to please their god which we identify as Satan 😈
7 months ago
Hamas OR IDF?
7 months ago
All “israelis” are War Criminals and deserve what they get!
It’s nice to see SOMEONE with the balls to give it to them!
White Cowards certainly never will!