Current:Home > MarketsNewly released video shows 3 hostages, including Israeli-American, being taken captive on Oct. 7 -FutureFinance
Newly released video shows 3 hostages, including Israeli-American, being taken captive on Oct. 7
View
Date:2025-04-16 03:51:52
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! (6)
Related
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Boston man sentenced for opening bank accounts used by online romance scammers
- Adam Sandler's Netflix 'Bat Mitzvah' is the awkward Jewish middle-school movie we needed
- Watch these South Carolina fishermen rescue a stuck and helpless dolphin
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Heat records continue to fall in Dallas as scorching summer continues in the United States
- Bronny James diagnosed with congenital heart defect, family 'confident' he'll play in 'near future'
- Hawaii’s cherished notion of family, the ‘ohana, endures in tragedy’s aftermath
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- US Forest Service rejects expansion plans of premier Midwest ski area Lutsen Mountains
Ranking
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- Justice Department sues SpaceX for alleged hiring discrimination against refugees and others
- Julia Fox Looks Unrecognizable With Bleached Brows and Platinum Blonde Hair
- Russian court extends U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich's detention by 3 months, state news agency says
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- Wild monkey sightings in Florida city prompt warning from police
- The Justice Department is suing SpaceX for allegedly not hiring refugees and asylees
- Simone Biles should be judged on what she can do, not what other gymnasts can't
Recommendation
Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
Two suspects are dead after separate confrontations with police in Missouri
These Reusable Pee Pads for Dogs Look Like Area Rugs and They're Machine-Washable
Ashnikko's 'Weedkiller' takes you into a queer dystopian world
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
An EF-2 tornado knocks down trees and injures at least 6 in Pennsylvania
Man dies after NYPD sergeant hurls cooler, knocks him off motorbike; officer suspended
Storms are wreaking havoc on homes. Here's how to make sure your insurance is enough.