Hamas releases new video of Israeli hostages
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, released a new video on the Telegram network showing two Israeli hostages. Undated, the clip shows Elkana Bohbot and Yossef-Haim Ohana, reportedly abducted in Israel during the attack carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The two captives are visibly in an underground cell.
One of the hostages speaks vehemently to the camera, addressing Israeli leaders, particularly Sarah Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "How many of us have to die? Why do you continue to bomb us and the civilians? Enough ... it's time to end this war!" he exclaimed.
He also described the situation of his fellow detainee, who appears unconscious under a blanket, "in a very difficult medical and psychological state."
"He keeps harming himself. He doesn't want to drink or eat anymore," he said while pointing to him, before the video ends with the message: "Only a cease-fire will bring them back alive," accompanied by a ticking clock.
The Forum of Hostage Families and Missing stated that the families have not yet approved the broadcasting of this video in Israel, reported Haaretz.
According to the Israeli army, Hamas still holds 58 hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom are believed to be dead.
A Hamas delegation held discussions on Wednesday and Thursday in Doha, Qatar with Egyptian and Qatari mediators to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, but with "no tangible progress," two sources close to the Palestinian movement told AFP on Friday, while the Israeli government approved a plan this week for the total conquest of the Palestinian enclave.
Since the resumption of the Israeli offensive on March 18, unilaterally breaking the cease-fire agreed upon in mid-January with Hamas, which had allowed the return of around 30 hostages, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a total blockade preventing the entry of any humanitarian aid for more than 100 days.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Health, 23 Palestinians were killed and 124 injured over the last 24 hours. The ministry updated its count of the official number of Palestinians killed since the start of the Israeli offensive against Gaza, reporting 52,810 deaths and over 119,400 injuries, the majority of whom are civilians, while more than 11,000 remain missing under the rubble.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
30 minutes ago
- Ya Libnan
Israeli military says it killed 2 Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders
Photo: Shariyari Smoke rises following an Israeli attack in Tehran, Iran, June 18, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran's Qom province. The commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the overseas arm, or Quds Force, Katz said in a statement. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. The Israeli military later said that it killed a second commander of the Guards' overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran. It said the commander 'was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East'. Shariyari supplied missiles and rockets launched at Israel to Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen's Houthis, according to the Israeli military. There was no confirmation from the IRGC on the killing of the two commanders. The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Iran-aligned network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as Israeli offensives since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel have weakened both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah. Katz said Izadi financed and armed Hamas during the initial attacks, describing the commander's killing as a 'major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force'. (Reuters)
Ya Libnan
30 minutes ago
- Ya Libnan
Hassan Nasrallah's aide was assassinated in Tehran
File photo of the late Hezbollah chief hassan Nasrallah and his aide Abu Ali Khalil who was assassinated today in Tehran , Iran the pr0–Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper reported the assassination of the aide to the late Hezbollah Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, known as 'Abu Ali Khalil,' in the Iranian capital, Tehran, as a result of an Israeli attack. A few days ago, 'Abu Ali Khalil,' according to photos circulating on social media, was in Iraq before heading to Iran. This comes as the Israeli war on areas in Iran continues, while the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has responded to Israel with waves of missiles and drones since June 13. EL NASHRA TRANSLATED FOM ARABIC
MTV Lebanon
an hour ago
- MTV Lebanon
US Races to Defend Israel as It Burns Through Missile Interceptors
The U.S. is racing to reinforce Israel's defenses, sending more warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles to the region as Iranian attacks drain Israel's stocks of interceptors. An additional U.S. Navy destroyer arrived in the eastern Mediterranean on Friday, joining three others in the area and two in the Red Sea. The ships are operating close enough to Israel to be able to intercept missiles fired by Iran, a defense official said. Most of the U.S.'s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers are armed with a range of interceptors, known as SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6, that can shoot down ballistic missiles and other aerial threats. SM-3s, first used in combat last year to counter an Iranian attack, are designed to intercept missiles above the atmosphere in the middle of their flight paths. The U.S. has also replenished stocks of ground-based interceptors for the Thaad antimissile system it set up in Israel last year. Formally known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, the system is operated by the U.S. Army and designed to intercept missiles inside or outside the atmosphere during their final phase of flight, known as the terminal phase. The surge of seaborne- and ground-based missile defenses underscores the concerns about Israel's dwindling supplies of the armaments. Israel risks exhausting its supply of high-end Arrow 3 interceptors in the coming weeks if its conflict with Iran isn't resolved and Tehran continues to launch volleys of missiles, a U.S. official said. Israel uses several different systems to provide a multilayered defense of the country. The well-known Iron Dome works on shorter-range rockets and drones. David's Sling intercepts missiles, planes and drones at a greater distance. The Arrow 3 is the crown jewel, designed to intercept missiles above the Earth's atmosphere. It can neutralize threats before they cross into Israeli airspace and give other systems time to act if the first shot misses. 'Without Arrow 3, it's problematic,' said Timur Kadyshev, a researcher at the University of Hamburg who has studied the Arrow system. 'You have less time to shoot down an incoming missile because you're shooting them only in the terminal phase.' Israel Aerospace Industries, the company that makes Arrow interceptors, didn't respond to requests for comment. Israel's armed forces also declined to comment on interceptor stockpiles, but said the military is ready to handle any scenario. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview Thursday with Israel's public broadcaster Kan, declined to answer whether Israel was running out of Arrow 3 interceptors. 'I would always like more and more,' Netanyahu said. He estimated that Israel has destroyed around half of Iran's missile launchers since the current conflict began, thereby diminishing the threat posed by Iran's missile arsenal. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump had approved attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program through diplomacy. The waiting period will keep the onus on Israel to continue the fight even as its ability to defend against missile attacks runs down. 'There's no time to lose, and two weeks is a very long time,' said Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Israel is using its control of the skies over western Iran to take out more missiles before they are launched. Its air superiority could also force Iran to fire from farther away, which means using liquid-fueled missiles that take more time to get ready, making them more vulnerable to attack. Still, Tehran has continued to fire volleys of missiles at Israeli population centers. If Iran keeps up its attacks, Israel in the coming days might be forced to make difficult decisions about husbanding its resources and giving priority to which missiles to intercept, Kadyshev said. The U.S. is facing its own concerns about supplies of interceptors. Supplies diverted to the conflict in the Middle East are coming at the expense of those available in the event of a bigger conflict with China. 'We are concerned for the number remaining for the high-end fight,' said a U.S. officer who has operated in the Middle East. 'SM-3s will start running low at this pace of operations, cutting into reserves for the next kinetic engagement.' The U.S. might also face tough decisions about how many interceptors to exhaust if the fighting drags on. It rushed missile defenses to its Persian Gulf partners after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel kicked off what would become more than a year and a half of war. Those defenses are politically and militarily important. Gulf countries have pressed the U.S. to take a more active role in their defense, and Iran has threatened to hit American bases in the Gulf and elsewhere in the region if the U.S. joins Israel in the attack. Israel's conflict with Iran is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars a day, according to early estimates, a price tag that could constrain Israel's ability to conduct a lengthy war.
