Three elderly Israeli hostages held by Hamas have begged to be released from captivity, asking Israel: ‘Don’t let us grow old here.’
The captives, all wearing dirty white t-shirts, said in a video published by Hamas via Telegram on Monday that they had no idea why they have not yet been rescued.
MailOnline is not publishing the video.
One man, who identified himself as 79-year-old Haiem Bery, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was seated in the middle of two others around the same age, spoke in Hebrew down the barrel of the camera.
He said he was being held with other elderly hostages with chronic illnesses, and that all of them were living in very harsh conditions.
Thousands of Palestinians lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the UN estimates
More than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza
Qatar, Israel and the US have been discussing reopening negotiations on a temporary ceasefire in recent days
The three men are among the ten remaining hostages over the age of 75, and the video is understood to be the first time any of them have been seen alive since they were taken on Black Saturday.
‘We are the generation who built the foundation for the creation of Israel. We are the ones who started the IDF military. We don’t understand why we have been abandoned here,’ he said.
‘You have to release us from here. It does not matter the cost. We don’t want to be casualties as a direct result of the IDF military airstrikes. Release us with no conditions. Don’t let us grow old here,’ he added.
The video ends with all three men repeating the phrase in unison, ‘Don’t let us grow old here.’
An IDF spokesperson described the video as a ‘criminal terrorist video.’
A Hamas official in Beirut, Lebanon, said today that negotiations on the release of hostages were off the table until Israel ‘stops its war on Gaza.’
Hamas and other militant groups are believed to still hold 129 foreign captives.
People sit by a fire outside one of the tents housing Palestinians displaced by the conflict in Gaza
Large plumes of smoke rise from northern Gaza as seen from the Israeli side of the border
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
The comments come after it was confirmed that Qatar, Israel and the US have been discussing reopening negotiations on a temporary ceasefire in recent days, though it is not clear whether Hamas was invited to these talks.
Hamas has released several videos of captives held somewhere in Gaza in the two-and-a-half months since it captured hundreds of hostages during its incursion on Black Saturday.
Late last month, it shared a video of captive Yarden Bibas, an Israeli father whose family were killed in an IDF airstrike.
Yarden, 34, was seen distraught and weeping as he said: ‘Bibi (Netanyahu) your airstrike took away my beloved family, now do what you can to bring them home so they can be buried at home.
‘I’m begging you, bring me, my wife and my children back home. Please, I’m begging.’
More than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
Thousands more lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the UN estimates.
Israel says 127 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on October killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking about 240 hostages.
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