The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas released video today showing two Israeli hostages kidnapped during its October 7 attack in southern Israel and taken to Gaza.
The two hostages are identified as Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47. The Hostage Families Forum confirmed their identities.
Hamas had already released a video on Wednesday of another Israeli hostage, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Paulin.
This new video is undated but 47-year-old Omri Miran is worried that he has been in the hands of Hamas for 202 days. His 202nd day of captivity falls on Thursday.
The new video is being released amid talks, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, for a ceasefire in the fighting in the Gaza Strip and the release of a number of hostages.
Speaking apparently under pressure, Omri Miran describes “a difficult situation” due to Israel’s “many shelling” of the Gaza Strip. He is calling on his family to put pressure on the government to reach an agreement with Hamas that would allow the release of the hostages. Miran says he hopes to be able to reunite with his family for Israel’s Independence Day on May 14.
BREAKING: HAMAS HOSTAGE VIDEO IN ENGLISH pic.twitter.com/VSq2x777qk
– Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) April 27, 2024
“This evidence that Keith Siegel and Omri Miran are alive makes it clear that the Israeli government must do everything possible to reach an agreement for the return of all hostages before Independence Day,” the statement said. Hostage Families Forum.
The two hostages are talking separately, and nothing can be seen behind them. They send their love to their families and ask to be released.
Miran was taken hostage while at home in the Nahal Oz kibbutz in front of his wife and two young daughters during the deadly Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
Siegel, who is also an American citizen, was captured along with his wife in another border town. She was later released during the brief November truce.
The video was posted during the Passover holiday, when Jews traditionally celebrate the biblical story of their liberation from slavery to the Pharaohs in Egypt and their passage (Pesach) from the Red Sea to the Promised Land.
At one point in the video, Siegel breaks down in tears as he recounts celebrating Easter with his family last year and expresses his hope that he will be reunited with them.
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