This was announced by a spokesperson for the al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist group, specifying that the condition of the 51-year-old man had “deteriorated” but “it had not been possible to treat him due to the destruction of the hospitals” in the Strip.
Gaza. In the video released today, lasting about 10 seconds, Popplewell appeared with an evident injury to one eye, declaring his identity.
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The video then ended with a question mark on a black background. The Israeli hostage was kidnapped from the Nirim kibbutz on 7 October 2023, during the attack by Islamist militiamen against the Jewish state.
Hamas had previously published similar videos of hostages presumably still alive. Their release remains at the center of indirect ceasefire talks between the parties in the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against the Jewish state, which kicked off the Israeli military operation in the Strip, saw around 3 militiamen burst across the border, killing around 1.200 people and seizing 253 hostages of all ages, mostly civil.
In November, following a week-long truce, Hamas freed over 100 hostages, in exchange for Israel’s release of approximately 240 detained Palestinians.
The fate of the remaining Israeli hostages is not known and it is therefore unclear how many of them are still alive today. Several times during the negotiations, Israeli mediators unsuccessfully urged Hamas to hand over a detailed list of the abducted people still alive in the Gaza Strip.