Current:Home > StocksNewly released video shows 3 hostages, including Israeli-American, being taken captive on Oct. 7 -Quantum Capital Pro
Newly released video shows 3 hostages, including Israeli-American, being taken captive on Oct. 7
View
Date:2025-04-12 23:01:44
The families of three men taken hostage by Hamas, including a well-known Israeli-American, have authorized the release of a video documenting the kidnapping near the Israel-Gaza border on Oct. 7.
Bring Them Home Now, a group that represents the hostages' families, shared the video on social media Monday after the Israeli army declassified it.
In the video, which is graphic and hard to watch, Palestinian militants are seen carting three hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in the back of a white pickup truck that speeds through southern Israel back toward Gaza. Goldberg-Polin sits bloodied, his forearm a mangled stump. Hamas has since released a video of him in captivity with part of his left arm amputated.
Goldberg-Polin and the two other hostages in the video — Eliya Cohen, 26, and Or Levy, 33 — were at the Tribe of Nova music festival when Hamas launched its attack. All three men are still believed to be held by Hamas.
In a statement posted alongside the footage, Bring Them Home Now called for an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would allow hostages who are still alive to return home and allow those killed to have a proper burial. The statement echoed pleas from families of the hostages for the Israeli government to reach a cease-fire deal with the Palestinian group, as negotiations for a pause in Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip and the terms of the hostages' release continue to stall.
Most of the footage was taken by militants who stormed out of Gaza in an attack that killed roughly 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. The video begins with apparent security camera footage showing Palestinian militants, some in green army fatigues, approaching a shelter.
One militant shoots four times into the shelter's door as smoke wafts out. The video cuts to a clip filmed by a militant of Goldberg-Polin and another hostage being pushed into the bed of a truck. Some images are blurred to censor what the hostage families group said is especially sensitive material.
In the video, the militant holding the camera celebrates the capture and thanks and praises God. "Here are the dogs," he says, scanning to show the hostages.
Another militant pulls Goldberg-Polin's hair, and the person holding the camera says, "I want to take a selfie with you."
Goldberg-Polin is seen with a tourniquet tied around his arm. Witnesses have said he was wounded when attackers tossed grenades into the shelter where people had taken refuge. His mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, told The Associated Press on Monday that, "262 days in, a lot of people are thinking about these hostages as just this clump of people, not individuals. And we personally feel this is our son."
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Hersh's mother, has been a vocal advocate for resolving the hostage situation since her son was taken on Oct. 7. She spoke to CBS News in April after Hersh appeared for the first time in a video released by Hamas, saying at the time that she had not heard his voice in six months.
"He's clearly medically compromised and medically fragile," she said.
In the video released Monday, Levy is seen lying in the back of the truck with Goldberg-Polin and Cohen. Levy attended the Nova festival with his wife Einav, who was killed by militants, according to the hostage families group. Levy's older brother, Michael Levy, said watching the new video was "horrific."
"On the most horrific day of his life, I wasn't able to do anything," Levy said. "I've never seen him so terrified in my life."
Cohen went to the festival with his girlfriend, who survived the attack under bodies in the shelter. In the video, a militant kneels on Cohen's bloody face, pressing it into the truck bed.
- In:
- Hostage Situation
- Hamas
- Israel
- Gaza Strip
veryGood! (384)
Related
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Oprah Winfrey and Arthur Brooks on charting a course for happiness
- How to help the flood victims in Libya
- UNC Chapel Hill lockdown lifted after man with gun arrested; students frustrated by weapon culture
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Ex-CIA employee snared earlier in classified info bust found guilty of possessing child abuse images
- Jonas Brothers, Friendly's launch new ice cream dishes: The Joe, Nick and Kevin Sundaes
- Earth is outside its ‘safe operating space for humanity’ on most key measurements, study says
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Escaped murderer planned to flee to Canada, says cops almost stepped on him
Ranking
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' to return during Writers Guild strike
- Watch: 12-year-old Florida boy who learned CPR from 'Stranger Things' saves drowning man
- World Cup referee Yoshimi Yamashita among first women match officials at Asian Cup
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Pete Davidson Shares He Took Ketamine for 4 Years Before Entering Rehab
- Senators clash with US prisons chief over transparency, seek fixes for problem-plagued agency
- Hot dog gummies? These 3 classic foods are now available as Halloween candy
Recommendation
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
4 former officers plead not guilty to federal civil rights charges in Tyre Nichols beating
Jury awards $100,000 to Kentucky couple denied marriage license by ex-County Clerk Kim Davis
Fire at paper mill property in northern Michigan closes roads, prompts warning to avoid area
Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
Fire at Michigan paper mill closes roads, residents told to shelter in place while air monitored
University of North Carolina lifts lockdown after reports of armed person on campus
Winner of $2.4 billion Powerball lottery purchases third home for $47 million