Hamas publishes new propaganda video of hostage Maxim Herkin
Russian-Israeli citizen appears bandaged in second sign of life in past month; Egyptian official tells Hezbollah-aligned outlet that Hamas can’t be forced into ‘further concessions’
Hamas published a propaganda video on Saturday showing signs of life from Maxim Herkin, the second such clip of the hostage put out by the terror group in the past month.
In the latest video, Herkin appeared to be severely bandaged up. Hamas claimed that he was in a tunnel allegedly targeted in an Israeli airstrike.
Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips themselves. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum requested that media outlets not publish the video or stills from it unless Herkin’s family provides approval.
Government hostage point man Gal Hirsch spoke with Herkin’s family after the release of the video. According to Hirsch’s office, the Herkins implored that Israeli news outlets not air the video of their son.
Last week, Hamas published a highly-produced propaganda video showing operatives rescuing a hostage, claimed to be Herkin, from under sand inside a tunnel.
Last month, the terror group published a video showing him and fellow hostage Bar Kuperstein. Both hostages were kidnapped by terrorists from the Nova music festival near Re’im.
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.
Herkin and Kuperstein are among the 24 hostages that Israel has said it believes to still be alive of the 59 total hostages that remain in captivity in Gaza, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara said this week there are fewer than 24 living captives. The remarks infuriated hostage families, as they were not updated before the reported divulgence of classified information.
The hostages are among 251 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people amid rampant acts of brutality and overt targeting of civilians, starting the war in Gaza.
Herkin, a dual Russian-Israeli citizen, was 35 at the time of his abduction, has a three-year-old daughter, and was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. He attended the Nova festival by chance, invited by friends at the last minute. It was the first time he had gone to a rave.
In February, Hamas said that Herkin would be prioritized during the second stage of the hostage deal, if it were to be signed, as a gesture to the Russian government. However, the agreement between Israel and Hamas fell apart after its first stage, with Israel renewing the fighting in Gaza in March.
‘Nothing new to negotiate’
Meanwhile, an Egyptian official familiar with the negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza said on Friday, “There is nothing new to negotiate, and no further concessions to force Hamas to make.”
Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, a news outlet affiliated with Hezbollah, the unnamed official claimed that the real issue was the absence of “an American-Israeli will to end the war.”
The official additionally warned that the Trump administration’s bet that Israel will be able to extract further concessions from Hamas, presumably through military force, is a “mistake.”
The report said that Egypt was backing a proposal that would see all the hostages released at once in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a long-term truce.
However, the outlet said there are also “discussions” for an alternative formula that would see a temporary truce of less than a year, to be implemented in two phases and with American guarantees.
It is unclear who was involved in the talks on the secondary proposal.
According to the report, that plan would include a preliminary Israeli commitment to complete the negotiating process that would eventually lead to the end of the war, with the first phase seeing Hamas handing over more than half of the living hostages and the remains of some of the slain captives.
The outlet did not give further details on the second phase.
Hamas opposes partial or temporary truce proposals, while Netanyahu has rejected plans that would see an end to the war before the complete dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing power.
The Times of Israel Community.