Released video says half of hostages dead
Around half of the remaining Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas have been killed in Gaza, an IsraeliAmerican captive said in a rare proofof-life video.
Hamas released a two-minute video yesterday showing 24-year-old Hersch Goldberg-Polin appealing to the Israeli Government to bring him home.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas that would have included a hostage swap and pause in fighting have collapsed.
The video was released as Israel is preparing to move Palestinian civilians out of Rafah ahead of a major offensive. Hamas has warned that an attack would risk the lives of more hostages.
Goldberg-Polin, born in California, was kidnapped from the Supernova festival, where he lost an arm in a grenade attack. The video was likely made under duress, and GoldbergPolin appeared sickly, pale and thin as he read at least part of his statement from a teleprompter.
It was not clear when the video was recorded but it appears to have been very recent as Goldberg-Polin spoke about 200 days of captivity, which he would have marked earlier this week, and the festival of Passover, which began on Monday evening. He spoke about living in “underground hell without water, food, sun or medical treatment”.
He said at least 70 of the remaining 130 or so hostages had been killed in Gaza in Israeli bombings, likely repeating a line given to him by his captors. Official Israeli estimates have put the number closer to 35.
A White House spokesman confirmed it had received the video, the first Hamas has publicly released of a US hostage. An official said the FBI and hostage rescue experts have been analysing the footage.
Goldberg-Polin, whose family has been one of the most active advocates of a hostage deal with Hamas, said Benjamin Netanyahu and his government “should be ashamed of themselves” for not stopping the war in Gaza.
Goldberg-Polin told his parents in
the video “I love you and I miss you so much” and wished them a happy Passover.
His family have mounted a campaign pushing for his release, with posters showing him smiling and displaying the slogan “Bring Hersch home” often seen on the walls of Israeli towns.
A group representing the families of some of the hostages said yesterday the family had agreed for the media to use the video which they said underlined their son’s plight.
“Hersh’s cry is the collective cry of all the hostages — their time is rapidly running out,” the group said. “We cannot afford to waste any more time; the hostages must be the top priority.”
Hamas has repeatedly said that it is not aware of the whereabouts of all 133 hostages who are currently in captivity in Gaza as some of them were abducted by Palestinian civilians rather than Hamas fighters.
In recent ceasefire negotiations, Hamas refused to share a list of all living hostages with Israel, raising fears there are fewer survivors than previously thought.
Also yesterday, Israel’s army chief Herzl Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar went to Cairo to discuss with Egyptian intelligence officers Israel’s plans for a Rafah operation, as well as efforts to reach a hostage deal with Hamas.
The US and the West has clashed with Israel over its Rafah plans, and has also been pressuring the Israeli government over illegal settlements.
The US State Department yesterday described as “dangerous and reckless” reports that Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, was pushing to legalise dozens of settler outposts in the Israelioccupied West Bank.
Student demonstrations
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted yesterday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
At the University of Texas at Austin,
hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — clashed with protesters, pushing them off the campus lawn and at one point sending some tumbling into the street.
At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody at the request of university officials and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was arrested after being caught in a pushand-pull between law enforcement and students, the station confirmed.
A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff who bandaged his head.
And at the University of Southern California, police got into a back-andforth tugging match with protesters over tents, removing several before falling back. At the northern end of California, students were barricaded inside a building for a third day at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The school shut down campus through the weekend.
Police first tried to clear an encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. The move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.