‘Bombing will kill us, no one can extract us by force’: Israeli captive in Gaza

​​ISTANBUL

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released a video clip Saturday of an Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip who stressed that no one can extract the hostages from the enclave by force.

The captive, who identified himself as prisoner No. 22, warned that the Israeli bombardment could kill the captives, and appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work for his release.

Responding to Netanyahu’s claims that videos broadcast by Hamas fall under psychological warfare, the captive cried and shouted: “I want to inform you Israeli prime minister, I am the one who asked to record the video. Hamas didn’t ask me to. This is not psychological warfare.”

“The real psychological warfare is me waking up without seeing my son and wife. This makes my health not well.”

“Do you understand: I want to get out of here,” he said in a direct appeal to Netanyahu. “Please help me. I miss my wife, my son -- everyone. I miss my family.”

“I have been working for 15 years under the workers committee and I did not ask them for anything,” he said.

Then, addressing the committee directly, he said: “You defend your respected workers. Don’t you know how to defend me?”

He added with frustration: “Get me out of here. You’ve made a deal and got out the female recruits. You got out the elderly prisoners. You got everyone! What about us?”

He asked angrily: “Why is my wife alone? Why can’t my son say Baba?”

“There is no one that can get us out of here by force. This will only kill us and this will be the end and you do not comprehend that!”

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18, killing more than 920 victims, injuring over 2,000, and shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

More than 50,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 114,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.