Meirav Gilboa-Dalal and Gal Gilboa-Dalal, mother and brother of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, an Israeli held hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, attend a press conference after meeting with Pope Francis, in Rome, Italy, April 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Hamas released a video on Friday of two Israeli hostages seized from a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and one said he was being held in Gaza City, where the Israeli military has launched a major offensive to wipe out the Palestinian terrorist group.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel are two of 48 people still being held by Hamas in Gaza, with 20 thought to be still alive.

Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas took 251 hostages into the enclave after its cross-border attack on southern Israeli communities in 2023 that killed about 1,200 people, triggering the war. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political control in Gaza.

The video was edited and featured an exhausted-looking Gilboa-Dalal speaking for around three-and-a-half minutes. He is seen in a car for some of the video dated Aug. 28. Reuters could not independently determine when the video was recorded.

He says that he is being held in Gaza City along with several other hostages and that he is afraid of being killed by Israel’s offensive on the city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military last month to capture Gaza‘s largest urban center, Gaza City, attacking what the government calls the last bastion of Hamas.

An Israeli military spokesman said on Thursday that it now controls about 40 percent of the city, where about one million people lived prior to the war. The military controls about 75 percent of Gaza.

Israel has been carrying out heavy strikes on the city for weeks, advancing through outer suburbs, and this week forces were within a few kilometers of the city center.

In the video, Gilboa-Dalal, 24, appears to be in the backseat of a car that is being driven around. As the car passes by buildings, he identifies one as belonging to the Red Cross. Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to see the hostages.

At one point, Ohel, 24, is also seen.

DICTATED SPEECH

Gilboa-Dalal was seen in a video in February being forced to watch other hostages being freed under a temporary ceasefire. Hostages who were filmed in similar videos and have since been freed have said their captors had dictated to them what to say.

Human Rights Watch has condemned Hamas and another terrorist group in Gaza for releasing videos of hostages, calling it inhumane treatment that amounts to a war crime. Israeli officials have described the videos as psychological warfare.

Netanyahu on Friday said it was “cruel propaganda.”

Tens of thousands of Israelis have staged weekly demonstrations calling for an end to the war to secure the hostages‘ release. Hundreds gathered on Friday at a public square in Tel Aviv to mark 700 days since the hostages were taken captive.

After the release of the video, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on X urged Israeli negotiators to resume talks on a deal to secure the hostages. Most of those released so far were as a result of diplomatic negotiations mediated by the United States and Arab states, but the last round of talks collapsed in July.

However, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel should respond by fully occupying Gaza.

Israel’s military leadership has warned Netanyahu against expanding the war, according to Israeli officials. Families of Israeli hostages and their supporters fear the attack could endanger the captives.

Hamas has said it would release some hostages for a temporary ceasefire. Netanyahu is pushing for an all or nothing deal with Hamas releasing all hostages and surrendering.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday military operations would intensify until Hamas accepts Israel’s conditions for ending the war: release the hostages and disarm. Otherwise, the group would be destroyed, he said.

The terrorist group has long offered to release all hostages in exchange for an end to the war and Israel’s withdrawal.