A screenshot of a video posted by Hamas on May 31, 2024, purportedly featuring the voice of Noor Al-Ghamani.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) recently released a video footage of Israeli hostages pleading with Israelis to pressure their government to agree to a ceasefire.
The video of Israeli hostage Alexander Trupanov, released by PIJ on Thursday, Previous VideoIn it, he promised to “reveal the whole truth” about the Gaza hostage crisis.
In a second video, Trupanov confirmed that he was in good health and was being well treated by his PIJ captors, he accused the Israeli military of trying to kill him and claimed that the Al-Quds Brigades had protected him.
“First of all, I want to say that I am healthy and doing well,” Turpanov said, “despite the fact that the IDF and the IAF have tried to kill me many times. I thank God that I am able to speak to you today, and I also thank the Al-Quds personnel who looked after me.”
Appearing to be reading from a rehearsed script, Trupanov then addressed government protesters, urging them to take to the streets to protest and demand the immediate release of the hostages.
In the video, Trupanov makes several harsh accusations, including saying the Israeli government prefers to bring dead hostages home rather than live ones because “the price is lower.”
As with the previous video, Israeli media refused to release it, citing its obvious psychological warfare and propaganda nature.
The following day, Friday, Hamas released a video uttered by Israeli hostage Noa al-Ghamani, in which she says, “I am being held captive by the Al-Qassam Brigades. I have been held captive for more than 237 days and I don't know how long it will last.”
Arugamani's family approved the release of the video.
Yaffe Ohad, aunt of Noa Al-Ghamani, who was taken hostage by Hamas militants in the October 7 attack, poses with a poster in front of the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 6, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Cecil Mantovani)
Like Trupanov's video, Al-Ghamani accused members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of not doing enough to free the hostages, specifically naming members of Israel's war cabinet: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz.
“Have you become partners in government with Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz?” Al-Ghamani asks. “Will the fate of my colleagues and mine be the same as that of Ron Arad?”
“Let thousands of women and men come out and block the streets of Tel Aviv,” she said of the ongoing protests. “Do not leave our fate in the hands of Netanyahu and his war councils.”
Liora Al-Ghamani, the mother of Noa Al-Ghamani, who was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip, takes part in a lobbying session calling for the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 9, 2024. (Photo by Yonatan Schindel/Flash90)
The video showing Al-Ghamani's plea is the third hostage video released in the past week, reportedly in an attempt by both PIJ and Hamas to increase internal pressure on the Israeli government to end the war.
The videos are clearly intended to influence the Israeli public and provoke backlash against the coalition government's support for the continuation of the war, but it is unclear how effective this method will be.
In January, Arugamani video Other hostages included Yossi Shalabi, 53, and Itay Svirski, 38. Both were later reported to have been killed.
Ron Arad was an Israeli Air Force weapons systems officer who was captured by the Lebanese Amal resistance group. Israel made multiple unsuccessful attempts to negotiate Arad's release between 1986 and 1988. Based on multiple intelligence efforts to locate him, Arad is believed to have died sometime between late 1996 or early 1997.
