MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP
A tribute to the victims and hostages of Hamas on the 100th anniversary of the conflict, January 14, 2024.
INTERNATIONAL – Not very reassuring news. The military wing of Hamas affirmed this Sunday, January 14, on the 100th day of the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist group, that many hostages have lost their lives recently.
“The fate of many hostages has been unknown in recent weeks, and the others have all entered the tunnel of the unknown” said Abou Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing in a televised address.
He added that “many of them have probably been killed recently and the rest are in great danger”of which “the leadership of the enemy and its army bears full responsibility”.
Hamas also released a video showing three Israeli hostages alive, two men and a woman. This video gives no indication of when it was filmed. The three hostages ask the Israeli authorities in Hebrew to act for their release.
132 hostages still in Gaza, according to Israel
Abu Obeida’s worrying statement came as Israelis expressed solidarity this Sunday with the hostages held in the Palestinian territory by the Palestinian Islamist movement and its allies to mark 100 days of their detention and support the mobilization of their families.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis observed a 100-minute strike in the morning to mark this symbolic date, announced the major union center Histadrut. In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people took part in a series of events, including a concert by Artifex, the last DJ to play at the Tribe of Nova festival – 364 of whose participants were killed by Hamas men on October 7 according to Israeli figures.
At the Tel Aviv velodrome, 136 cyclists, each representing a hostage, did laps of the track, as reported on X (ex-Twitter) by a former journalist from Times of Israel. “We will not abandon anyone”for his part declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Demonstrations were also organized around the world, for example in Trafalgar Square in London where hundreds of people gathered to demand the immediate release of the hostages.
The release of those detained is one of the objectives of the war triggered on October 7 by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip. Some 250 people were taken hostage during this attack, and 132 are still in Gaza, of whom at least 25 were killed, according to Israeli authorities. About a hundred were released under a truce at the end of November.
Also see on HuffPost :