Hamas has released a video of one of the hostages Liri Albag, the 19-year-old Israeli soldier hostage for over a year. Albag was one of the IDF surveillance soldiers abducted during the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. She and six others were taken from the Nahal Oz military base near Gaza while it was being attacked, killing 15 Israeli soldiers.
In the three-and-a-half-minute video, Albag, who has been detained for over 450 days, said that “Israeli government forgot about me, forgot about others kidnapped with me, forgot that I have freedom”. “I am only 19 years old. I have my whole life ahead of me, but now all my life has been put on pause,” she said in Hebrew.
🚨‼️🇵🇸🇮🇱Hamas release video of Israeli hostage, LIRI ALBAG.
She looks safe and healthy, even gain some weight. All you have to do is release 9,500 of Palestinian hostages kept by terrorist Israel and cease all fire against Palestinian and give a two state solution.All hostages… pic.twitter.com/BBDZaiFV0D
— Iqbal Hossain (@yki_niassoh) January 4, 2025
Her family, broken by the video, described it as “tearing our heart to pieces,” with her severe psychological distress. They called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure her safe return and urged him to act as if it were his own children in captivity.
Netanyahu answered that the Israeli government is relentlessly working to bring the hostages home, underlining that whoever harms the hostages will bear full responsibility for his actions.
The Albag family had initially refused to provide the photos, but later reversed their decision, reconsidering the issue. After the Hamas attack, about 250 people were taken hostage to Gaza. To date, 96 of them are being held captive; 34 have been confirmed dead by the Israeli military.
