The Islamic terrorist group Hamas has released a new propaganda video of one of the Israeli hostages still in Gaza, Matan Zangauker, as part of its strategy of ideological pressure shortly after claiming that international mediators had resumed ceasefire negotiations in the Strip.
“I am paying the price for your mistakes,” says Zangauker in a video in which he constantly presses Israel to reach an agreement to free them, dated on day 420 of the war, when this Saturday marks 428 days of conflict in the enclave.
In the video, the young man, whose mother is Eivan Zangauker, one of the most visible figures in the protests outside Netanyahu's house demanding an agreement to release the hostages, calls on Israelis to continue these types of protests.
In this sense, he speaks directly to his mother, assuring her that she is aware of his activities.
“Demonstrate in front of the prime minister’s house and don’t let him sleep for a single minute” until the hostages can safely reach their homes. “We are suffering, it is more appropriate for him and his family to suffer like us,” the captive said in the video.
In a dark but healthy mood, Zangauker denounced the living conditions in Gaza, marked by a lack of food, hygiene products and drinking water, which humanitarian organisations have been denouncing throughout the conflict.
The recording, from more than a week ago, comes to light when everything points to a new round of negotiations for a truce in Gaza, after the return of Qatar as mediator was confirmed after having abandoned this role.
Israel has not yet announced the dispatch of a negotiating delegation to Egypt, although security sources in the country have predicted that it will arrive next week.
The Islamic terrorist group regularly publishes such videos as a means of putting pressure on Israel. In this case, Zangauker says he is “paying the price” for his country’s mistakes: “The government has rejected us and continues to reject us every day,” he complains.
"I hope they do what they can to change the situation and rescue me along with the rest of the prisoners alive and well," he said in another appeal to the population, common in this type of recording.
In September, the young man's mother said she was aware that he was being held with 10 other hostages, according to information she had received, although his situation has not been updated publicly.
Hamas began a count of the number of Israeli hostages still alive in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian sources said, while the population of the enclave claims that Israeli surveillance drones stopped flying over their skies this morning, as happened during the truce in November last year when 105 were released in exchange for imprisoned Palestinian terrorists.
The source said senior Hamas officials had been in contact with various factions in the Gaza Strip to learn about the latest developments regarding the live hostages, in preparation for the possibility of reaching an exchange deal as soon as possible, with serious progress in indirect negotiations with Israel.
Of the 251 people kidnapped by Gazan terrorists on 7 October last year, 96 remain in the enclave, while Israeli authorities estimate that at least 34 are dead.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article