The Islamist group Hamas announced this Monday that the hostages Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, had died in captivity, in a propaganda video that it had been promoting since Sunday and in which another hostage, Noa Argamani, appeared. 26 years old and still alive.
In the images broadcast on their Telegram channels, the group initially shows the two hostages asking the Israeli Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, to stop the war because “they are in danger” on a date to be specified.
Already this Monday, Hamas has published new footage with the three hostages and questions like “what do you think? Are they all dead, some dead and others alive, or are they all still alive?”, while announcing that tonight he would explain the fate of the three kidnapped people. Finally, Noa Argamani has reported the death of her two companions, while images of the bodies of Sharabi and Svirsky have been attached.
Hamas has previously shared other similar videos, since on October 7 thousands of its militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped some 240 people, beginning an unprecedented war escalation in the Strip. It is believed that 136 hostages – including 25 already dead – are still being held hostage by Hamas, but on Sunday the Islamist group claimed to have lost contact with some of them due to the massive military offensive by land and air.
“Most likely, many of them have died recently, the rest are in great danger with every passing hour and the enemy’s leadership and army are responsible,” Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement. televised event framed in the 100 days of war. “Any dialogue before the Israeli aggression ends is useless,” Obeida added.
In total, 110 captives have been freed, 105 of them during the week-long truce that took place in November in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. In turn, Israel has recovered the bodies of 11 dead hostages, and Israeli forces themselves have mistakenly killed 4 of them, one during a failed rescue operation.
