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Tel Aviv — Thousands of Israelis took the streets again Wednesday night with one clear message for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government: Free the hostages.
The demonstrations were triggered by the release of a graphic video showing five female soldiers held in Hamas captivity. It was shot by the Hamas militants themselves, some of whom wore body cameras during their Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, when the five women were seized from an Israeli army base.
The families of the captive soldiers decided to release the video clip to the public, fearing the plight of the remaining 100 or so hostages still thought to be alive in Gaza is fading from global attention. Due the nature of the video, CBS News has chosen to use only still images.
“I want the world to know she is more than a poster,” Sasha Ariev, who’s 19-year-old sister Karina is among the hostages seen in the video, told CBS News. “A few girls, in pajamas, blood covered, terrified. You just can’t even imagine.”
The video is harrowing. It shows the women, some of them who appear injured and bloodied, sitting on the floor of a room as their Hamas captors move around them. At one point, a militant can be heard referring to one of the captive women as attractive.
The clip was part of a trove of previously released propaganda videos by Hamas. According to the hostages’ families, the Israeli military gave them an edited version, after removing what were described as more disturbing scenes.
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Ariev said her family wanted the images circulated, “because people are forgetting. We have the feeling that it’s becoming normal… hostages being held captive for such a long time.”
Anger is only growing at Netanyahu and his government for the failure to secure the release of the hostages 230 days after they were seized.
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Many Israelis accuse Netanyahu of deliberately trying to block a negotiated deal with Hamas to prolong the war in Gaza for his own political gain.
Ariev didn’t criticize anyone by name, but said people were playing “politics on the back of our families — on the back of the hostages, and this is another reason that we publish the video… so people will understand they’re talking about life, people who are still alive and must come home as soon as possible.”
Asked if she felt the government was doing enough to bring her sister and the other captives home, she said “every day that she is not home, it becomes harder for me not to be disappointed.”
But she said giving up hope was not an option, as if she stopped believing, “I won’t come out from my bed in the morning.”
