Tel Aviv, Feb 20, (dpa/GNA) – The family of the youngest Israeli hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip called on Tuesday for a swift agreement with Hamas on their release.
On Monday evening, the Israeli army released a previously unknown video, showing the mother with her two sons, a baby and a 4-year-old, in the hands of their Gaza captors shortly after their abduction on October 7.
The fate of the two red-headed children had attracted worldwide attention, immediately after their abduction in another video.
The Israeli government has also used an image of the baby in speaking about the atrocities of the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas. Their father was also kidnapped.
Last year, Hamas announced that the mother and the two children had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. However, a similar announcement about another hostage turned out to be false.
The army has not yet released a death notice, but army spokesman Daniel Hagari said he was “very concerned” about the family.
Their family is, too.
“When we saw the video, it was as if our hearts were being ripped out,” their aunt said. There was “no other way than a negotiated solution” to release the hostages,” she said in an interview with journalists.
“They are the only children left among the hostages,” she said tearfully. “We call on all decision-makers: Bring this family home.”
The cousin of the kidnapped father said the family doesn’t want to bury three generations. The boys’ grandparents were brutally murdered on October 7.
GNA