Islamic Jihad Releases Video Showing Israeli Hostage Alive In Custody

Palestinian group Islamic Jihad released Monday video footage it claimed showed an Israeli hostage alive in its custody in Gaza, after being seized during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

In the video, a man speaking in English and Hebrew from an undisclosed location calls for his release and pays tribute to Tamir Adar, another hostage whose death was announced in early January by his kibbutz community in southern Israel.

The family of the hostage, from Nir Oz kibbutz, in response, urged the media not to broadcast the footage.

He is one of around 75 people kidnapped from Nir Oz by Palestinian militants during the unprecedented October 7 attack, according to the Israeli community near the border with the Gaza Strip.

The attack by Gaza's Hamas rulers saw a total of 253 hostages seized from southern Israel, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israeli officials.

It also resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel responded by bombarding the territory and sending in ground forces, killing more than 23,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

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