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Hamas has released a video showing a young Israeli captive, as indirect talks between the group and Israel over a ceasefire and hostage release agreement resume in Qatar.
Footage shows Liri Albag calling on the Israeli government to reach an agreement.
She was taken hostage along with six other female soldier recruits at the Nahal Oz military base on the Gaza border during the Hamas attack in October 2023. Five of them remain in captivity.
The announcement of the resumption of talks came as Israel stepped up attacks on Gaza, and Palestinian rescuers said more than 30 people had been killed in Saturday’s bombing.
An attack on a house in Gaza City on Saturday killed 11 people, including seven children, according to the Hamas-run civil defense agency.
Footage showed residents searching through the rubble for survivors and the bodies of the dead wrapped in shrouds.
“We were woken up by a big explosion. Everything was shaking,” neighbor Ahmed Mussa told AFP.
“It was the home of children and women. There was no one wanted or who posed a threat.”
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had struck more than 100 “terrorist targets” in the Gaza Strip in the past two days and “eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists.”
Responding to the video showing their daughter, Liri Albag’s parents said it had broken their hearts and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “make decisions as if his own children were there.”
The headquarters of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which represents hostage families, said Liri’s sign of life was “hard and undeniable proof of the urgency of bringing all hostages home.”
In a call to Lira Albag’s parents, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country’s delegation would remain at the negotiating table until all the hostages were returned home.
Israeli officials have previously described Hamas’ release of such videos as psychological warfare.
Last month, a senior Palestinian official told the BBC that Talks to reach a ceasefire and a hostage release agreement were practically complete.but there were still key issues to be resolved.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the latest in a series of such attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The Houthis said they had fired a “hypersonic ballistic missile” at a power plant near the Israeli city of Haifa. The group says it began attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing projectiles at Israel in response to Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The current war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.
Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed more than 45,700 people, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory.
On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said the three government hospitals in northern Gaza were completely out of service and “destroyed” by the Israeli army.
The Israeli military has imposed a blockade on parts of northern Gaza since October, and the UN says the area has been under a “near total siege” as Israeli forces heavily restrict access for aid shipments to an area where It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 people remain. .
Late last month, the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, claiming the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold” and arrest hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya.
He said he had facilitated the transfer of some medical staff and patients to the nearby Indonesian hospital. But Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that that hospital had also been taken out of service, along with the Beit Hanoun hospital.
The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, again called for an end to attacks on hospitals and health professionals. “People in Gaza need access to health care,” he said.
Israel says its forces operate in accordance with international law and do not attack civilians.
On Saturday, the Biden administration said it was planning $8bn (£6.4bn) arms sale to Israel. The weapons shipment, which needs approval from US House and Senate committees, includes missiles, projectiles and other munitions.
The move comes just over a fortnight before Biden leaves office and Donald Trump assumes the presidency.
Washington has consistently rejected calls to suspend military support for Israel due to the number of civilians killed in Gaza.