Netanyahu denounces Hamas after new hostage video

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, denounced as “cruel psychological propaganda” a video that Hamas released on Monday, depicting three of the hostages taken by the Islamist organisation on October 7. In the video, three women—Yelena Trupanob, Danielle Aloni, and Rimon Kirsht, according to Netanyahu—are seen sitting next to each other against a blank wall, with Aloni shouting at the prime minister. She demanded an agreement to secure their release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, accusing Netanyahu of failing to protect Israeli citizens during the deadly Hamas attack and of failing to get them back home. “You were supposed to free all of us. You committed to free us all. But instead we are carrying your political, security, military, diplomatic failure,” she said. In a statement, Netanyahu repeated a pledge to make every effort to bring the hostages home. “Abducted by Hamas, which is committing war crimes, I embrace you. Our hearts are with you and with the other captives. We are doing everything to bring home all the captives and the missing,” he said. At 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), the families of the women were scheduled to hold a press conference. The brief video is the second hostage message that Hamas has released; the first was a clip of French-Israeli woman Mia Schem, 21, which was made public on October 17. Israeli officials claim that during the attack, which resulted in at least 1,400 deaths, Hamas gunmen captured at least 239 hostages, both Israeli and foreign. The ground operation in Gaza, which was started by Israeli forces last week after a heavy campaign of airstrikes that, according to Palestinian authorities, killed over 8,000 people, has been complicated by the hostages’ presence. Although four hostages have been freed thus far, it appears that attempts to secure further releases through back channels facilitated by Qatar have been suspended since the commencement of the ground operation. (With agency inputs)