New footage shows six Israeli captives held in Gaza tunnel prior to deaths

The footage, aired connected Israeli TV, shows the captives observing Hanukkah successful a Gaza passageway months earlier they died.

Israeli media outlets person aired footage of six Israeli captives lighting Hanukkah candles successful a Hamas passageway successful Gaza, 8 months earlier their deaths during Israel’s genocidal warfare successful the besieged enclave.

The footage, depicting captives Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino and Alex Lobanov, was released online connected Thursday nighttime aft being aired connected Israeli television.

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The Israeli subject said the footage had been filmed by Hamas for propaganda purposes but ne'er released, and had been recovered by the Israeli subject during its operations successful Gaza.

The footage, which had antecedently lone been shown to the captives’ families, differed from different clips of Israeli captives released during the war, which typically showed the Israelis speechmaking statements.

It showed the captives marking Hanukkah successful December 2023 by lighting candles and singing, immoderate 80 days into their captivity and 8 months earlier they were killed successful August 2024.

Israel says the six were killed by being changeable astatine adjacent scope by their captors successful Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood connected August 29, 2024, and discovered by the Israeli subject 2 days later, earlier their remains were returned home.

The captives were besides shown eating arsenic they marked the commencement of the caller twelvemonth successful 2024, arsenic good arsenic playing cards and backgammon.

One of the captives, Goldberg-Polin, was shown missing the little portion of his near arm, which was blown disconnected by a grenade during the Hamas-led onslaught successful confederate Israel connected October 7, 2023, Israeli media reported.

The families of the captives depicted successful the footage released a connection saying the clips depicted their loved ones’ humanity, unity and strength.

“Lighting the candles successful this acheronian spot is the Jewish essence of the heroism of airy implicit darkness,” said the statement.

“Hamas filmed the videos arsenic portion of a crippled to dispersed propaganda, but the humanity of the six heroes shines through.”

Israeli media reported that the bodies of the six captives were recovered astir 1km (0.6 miles) from wherever different captive, Farhan al-Qadi, had been rescued by the Israeli subject conscionable days earlier.

The instrumentality of the captives, some surviving and dead, was a cardinal plank of the US-brokered ceasefire deal betwixt Israel and Hamas.

On October 13, arsenic per the deal, Hamas released each 20 remaining surviving Israeli captives successful speech for 250 Palestinians serving agelong situation sentences and 1,700 Palestinians disappeared by Israel since the commencement of the war. Many of the returned Palestinians described beatings and maltreatment during their clip successful Israeli detention.

In consequent exchanges of remains, 27 of the 28 bodies of Israeli captives person been returned, arsenic good arsenic much than 300 Palestinian bodies, galore of which were mutilated and showed signs of torture and execution. Many stay unidentified, leaving families with missing relatives incapable to find closure successful their mourning.

Hamas has said it requires dense excavation instrumentality to retrieve the past remaining Israeli captive’s assemblage from nether the rubble caused by Israeli bombardment.