31-07-2025
Islamic Jihad publishes video of Israeli captive held in Gaza - War on Gaza
The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad published a video Thursday of an Israeli-German captive who was abducted to Gaza in October 2023.
In the six-minute video, the male hostage, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the hunger crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release.
AFP was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the video nor the date it was filmed, but was able -- along with several Israeli news outlets -- to identify the captive as Rom Braslavksi, a German-Israeli dual national.
Islamic Jihad announced last week that it had lost contact with the captive and repeats this in commentary at the beginning of the latest video, suggesting the images were filmed more than a week ago.
A previous video of Braslavski was released on April 16.
The footage, distributed by the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, shows the young man watching an Arabic-language television channel broadcasting a report on hunger in Gaza.
Israel's war on Gaza has been ongoing since October 2023, but a truce from January 19 to March 17 allowed the return of 33 captives to Israel, eight of them dead, in exchange for the release of approximately 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli jails.
Families of the remaning captives - numbered 20-50 including dead or alive - have been pleading with the Israeli government and taking part in protests in Tel-Aviv, asking for a ceasefire and captive exchange, whereby the Israeli government would release detained Palestinians in exchange for the remaining hostages.
Negotiations for a ceasefire broke down last week when the American and Israeli delegations withdrew from talks with Hamas.
Despite Hamas's stated willingness to continue talks, Witkoff claimed: 'While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.'
Hamas, which has consistently demanded a permanent ceasefire, an end to Israel's blockade, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, said it was surprised by Witkoff's 'negative remarks'.
In a separate statement, the group said it had shown responsibility and flexibility during the negotiations and was 'keen to reach an agreement that ends the aggression and the suffering of our people in Gaza.'
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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