Tel Aviv is the location. On Wednesday evening, thousands of Israelis once again took to the streets with a single, unambiguous message for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government: Release the hostages.
The publication of a graphic video depicting five female soldiers in Hamas captivity was the catalyst for the demonstrations. The Hamas militants themselves, some of whom were wearing body cameras during their Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, fired the shot when the five women were apprehended at an Israeli army base.
The families of the captured soldiers released the video clip because they were worried that the situation of the approximately 100 hostages still believed to be alive in Gaza was losing its significance on a global scale. CBS News has elected to employ solely still images as a result of the video’s inherent characteristics.
Sasha Ariev, whose 19-year-old sister Karina is one of the hostages depicted in the video, stated to CBS News, “I want the world to know she is more than a poster.” “A few females, bloodied and terrified, were dressed in pajamas.” You simply cannot fathom the possibility.
The video is a source of great distress. The women, some of whom appear to be injured and bloodied, are depicted seated on the floor of a room as their Hamas captors move around them. A militant is heard at one juncture describing one of the captive women as appealing.
The clip was a component of a collection of propaganda videos that Hamas had previously disseminated. Families of the hostages have reported that the Israeli military provided them with an edited version that was omitted from sequences that were perceived as more distressing.
According to Ariev, her family desired the images to be disseminated because “people are forgetting.” We have the impression that it is becoming the norm—hostages being held confined for an extended period.
The detainees’ release has not been secured 230 days after they were apprehended, and the anger directed toward Netanyahu and his government is only intensifying.
Many Israelis accuse Netanyahu of consciously attempting to obstruct a negotiated deal with Hamas in order to prolong the conflict in Gaza for his own political benefit.
Ariev refrained from naming anyone, but he stated that individuals were engaging in “politics on the back of our families—on the back of the hostages. This is another reason we are publishing the video—so that people will understand they are discussing life, people who are still alive and must return home as soon as possible.”
She stated that “every day that she is not home, it becomes difficult for me not to be disappointed” when asked if she believed the government was doing enough to bring her sister and the other captives home.
However, she stated that abandoning hope was not an option, as if she had lost faith: “I will not rise from my bed in the morning.”
