
Gaza war: Hamas releases video showing Israeli hostage alive
Hamas released a video on Friday showing Israeli hostage Matan Angrest alive, footage that his family said had left them "shaken" as they accused his captors of torturing him in captivity.
In the footage, Angrest, who turned 22 in November, calls on the Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
"We are shaken by the video we just saw, in which we see our Matan looking drained and desperate after 518 days in Hamas's tunnels," the family said in a statement issued by Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Angrest says in the video he has been held for 511 days, suggesting it was shot last week.
The family said the video showed Angrest had been "tortured" in captivity and provided further evidence that time was running out for the remaining hostages.
"Beyond the severe psychological state evident in the footage, his right hand is non-functional, his eyes and mouth are asymmetrical, and his nose is broken — according to testimonies from those who have returned," the family said.
"All due to interrogations and torture in captivity. What more proof is needed to understand that time has run out?"
Angrest was abducted from the Nahal Oz base after trying in vain to contact his family during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
In September, during a demonstration for the hostages, his mother, Anat, released an audio recording of him found in Gaza by the Israeli army, in which he asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to swap Palestinian prisoners for the hostages.
Angrest, who comes from Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel, is a supporter of Maccabi Haifa football club, according to his family.
On Friday, the family urged US President Donald Trump to proceed with the ceasefire deal and not stop until "the last hostage comes home".
The first phase of the ceasefire ended last weekend, after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the 2023 attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has said are dead.
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