Hamas claims British-Israeli hostage has died in Gaza
HAMAS claimed yesterday that a British-Israeli hostage had died in Gaza, shortly after releasing a video appearing to show him alive.
A brief 11-second clip was posted by Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, yesterday morning showing Nadav Popplewell, 51, confirming his name and his home in Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel.
Mr Popplewell was born in the town of Wakefield, Yorks, but had lived in Israel for at least two decades.
It was not clear when the video was taken or what state of health he was in.
In it, he can be seen with a bruise on his right eye.
The footage is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: “Time is running out. Your government is lying.”
The Telegraph is not showing the video or images from it as it was made under duress.
It was originally interpreted as a first sign of life for the 51-year-old, who was kidnapped by the terror group on Oct 7 along with his mother, who was later released.
But the group later said in a statement that he had died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month ago.
Mr Popplewell was being detained with a female hostage when the place they were being held was targeted by an Israeli missile, Hamas claimed in a statement.
“He died because he didn’t receive intensive medical care at medical facilities because of the enemy’s destruction of hospitals in Gaza,” spokesman Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not offer immediate comment on the latest video. It has referred to previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological terror and has also denied some of the previous accusations by the terror group that hostages were killed by Israeli fire.
Described as an avid reader and a fan of science fiction, Mr Popplewell is a family man who liked playing bridge with friends in the kibbutz and enjoyed watching TV series, according to Bring
Them Home Now, an Israeli organisation set up by hostages’ families.
He was captured from a safe room at his home along with his mother, Hanna Peri, a dual South African citizen.
She was later released during the first ceasefire pause in November.
Mr Popplewell’s older brother, Roi, was killed in the attack.
His sister, Ayelet Svalitzky, who has campaigned in London after the terror attacks for her family’s release, has spoken of how she lost her whole family on Oct 7.
The video is the third of a Hamas hostage released in less than a month.
On April 27 the group released a video showing two people alive – Keith Siegel and Omri Miran.
Three days before that, it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.
In that footage, Mr Goldberg-Polin said that around half of the remaining Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas have been killed during the fighting in Gaza.
He claimed at least 70 of the remaining 128 hostages had been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombings, likely repeating a line given to him by his captors.
The official Israeli forensic committee has put the number at 36.
A US intelligence assessment seen by the Wall Street Journal last month concluded that over half of the hostages may well now be dead.
Joe Biden, the US President, said there would be a ceasefire “tomorrow” if Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages.
Speaking at a fundraising event in Seattle, Mr Biden said “it’s up to Hamas” to halt the fighting in the region.
“There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if… Hamas released the hostages, women, the elderly, and the wounded”, he said. “Israel said it’s up to Hamas if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the ceasefire would begin tomorrow”, he added.
Group’s video message via Nadav Popplewell hailed as sign of life before Hamas announced death