A Palestinian child holding a container walks past a woman and her child standing in front of a tent during a free food distribution in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on April 6, 2025. (Credit: Hatem Khaled / Reuters)
The armed wing of Hamas released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages in Gaza, where they claim to have survived an alleged Israeli airstrike. After a two-month fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, the Israeli military resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18, following unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian movement on Oct. 7, 2023.
The video, released by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, lasts just over two minutes. One of the two men appears injured, with bandages on his face and right hand. The AFP has not been able to verify the authenticity of the video or the date it was recorded. The Hostage Families Forum, the main organization advocating for the release of Israelis held in Gaza, has confirmed identifying one of the hostages as Maxim Herkin, whose family has requested the press not to publish the video.
According to Israeli media, the second hostage is soldier Bar Kuperstein. Both men were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival. Bar Kuperstein, 21 at the time of the attack, is from Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv. He had been abducted while attempting to assist festival-goers at the Nova Festival site, where he was part of the organizing team, even though he was off-duty that day.
Maxim Herkin, who also holds Russian nationality, was 35 years old at the time of the attack. Originally from Ukraine, he had emigrated to Israel with his mother. A father of a young daughter, he had written to his mother just before his abduction: "Everything is fine. I’m coming home."
The recent cease-fire led to the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were deceased, in exchange for the release of approximately 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Since March 18, the Israeli army has intensified bombings on Gaza and sent soldiers back to the front lines in many areas the army had withdrawn from during the cease-fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government maintain, against the views of most families and relatives of hostages, that increased military pressure is the only way to force Hamas to release the hostages, dead or alive, still held in Gaza. Of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war, 58 are still being held in Palestinian territory, including 34 dead according to the Israeli army.
The armed wing of Hamas released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages in Gaza, where they claim to have survived an alleged Israeli airstrike. After a two-month fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, the Israeli military resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18, following unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian movement on Oct. 7, 2023.The video, released by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, lasts just over two minutes. One of the two men appears injured, with bandages on his face and right hand. The AFP has not been able to verify the authenticity of the video or the date it was recorded. The Hostage Families Forum, the main organization advocating for the release of Israelis held in Gaza, has confirmed identifying one of the hostages as Maxim Herkin, whose family has requested the press not to publish...
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