The Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, released a distressing video on Tuesday showing two Israeli hostages in Gaza pleading for their release. The video, shared on the group’s Telegram account, features Gadi Moses and Elad Katzir. Both men, appearing unshaven and visibly weakened, implored for intensified efforts to secure their freedom and reunite with their families.
Gadi Moses, a 79-year-old farmer, and Elad Katzir, 47, were both captured from a kibbutz during a violent incursion by Hamas militants across southern Israel on October 7. During this assault, more than 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. Katzir’s mother, who was also captured, has since been released, but his father was among those killed.
This video follows a separate release by Hamas, showing three other elderly Israeli hostages. The Israeli government has condemned these videos as “criminal, terrorist videos.”
The ongoing conflict has seen a complex exchange of hostages and prisoners. A ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Egypt at the end of November resulted in the release of over 100 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers from Israeli jails. However, the fate of many hostages remains uncertain, with some declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities and others still held in Gaza.
