Hamas publishes propaganda video of hostage Nadav Popplewell
No indication as to when 10-second clip was filmed; family members of hostages accuse government of abandoning their loved ones to die in captivity
Hamas on Saturday aired a new propaganda video showing an Israeli hostage held in the Gaza Strip, the latest clip in a series of videos it has released of Israeli hostages since the October 7 attacks.
In the 10-second clip, the hostage identified himself as British-Israeli Nadav Popplewell, 51.
There was no indication as to when the video was filmed.
Popplewell was taken hostage with his mother, Channah Peri, 79, from their home on Kibbutz Nirim during the October 7 terror assault, and his older brother Roi Popplewell, 54, was shot and killed by terrorists behind his home on the kibbutz.
Channah Peri was released on November 24 as part of a weeklong temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel has condemned as psychological warfare. Most Israeli media outlets do not carry the video clips themselves unless asked to or given permission by the hostage’s family members.
The video of Popplewell is the third clip that has been released by the Gaza terror group in recent weeks.
On April 24, it published a nearly three-minute-long video of 23-year-old Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. In the video, Goldberg Polin, who was seen missing one of his hands, said he had been held captive for “nearly 200 days,” and mentioned a “festival” several times, indicating that the video was filmed ahead of the recent Passover holiday.
On April 28, it aired another three-minute video of hostages Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 46. As was the case with Goldberg-Polin, Miran said he had been held captive for 202 days, and Siegel mentioned the Passover holiday.
In response to the video of Popplewell, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on Saturday that “every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders.
“We don’t have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today — the living to rehabilitation and the murdered to burial,” the Forum added.
Recent indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo over a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and free the hostages appeared to break up with no discernible progress before the weekend as the terror group said it had no intention of budging from a proposal already rejected by Israel.
The truce agreement Hamas claimed to have accepted last Monday included several elements fundamentally different from what Israel had agreed to, including the stipulation that Hamas would release 33 hostages, living or dead, in the first phase of the deal. The proposal previously accepted by Israel, however, included the release of 33 living hostages in the initial phase.
In the wake of the failed attempt to reach a deal and the newest Hamas propaganda video, the families of hostages delivered a statement outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon, accusing the government of abandoning their loved ones to die.
“The Israeli government gave up on the abductees and abandoned them to die in Hamas captivity!” Ila Metzger, whose 80-year-old father-in-law Yoram Metzger is held in Gaza, said in opening remarks. “As long as [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is in power, the hostages will not return.”
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz, similarly accused the government of “giving up on the hostages.”
“The government is giving up on the hostages, the government is leading the entire country to destruction,” she said, appealing for Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot to “bring down the government.”
Of the 252 hostages seized by Hamas during the deadly October 7 terror onslaught in which some 1,200 people were massacred, 128 are believed to remain in Gaza — not all of them alive.
The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 36 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza. One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
The Israeli offensive against Hamas has killed over 34,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. This figure cannot be independently verified and does not differentiate between civilians and members of terror organizations. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas operatives in Gaza since the war began and about 1,000 in Israeli territory on October 7.
