From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 24, 2024
Hostage families release Hamas video showing 3 men’s abduction into Gaza
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
In the early morning hours of October 7, hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen were shoved, bloodied and terrified, onto the flatbed of a pickup truck. Hamas terrorists towered over them yelling “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) with AK-47s pointed high as the truck barreled down a one-lane road into Gaza.
The images of that ride — from a portion of a Hamas video obtained by Israel — are being shared for the first time this evening by the families of the three hostages.
The footage is the third section of a Hamas video that shows the chronology of events for the three on the morning of October 7.
One section that was published several months ago showed the terrorists throwing grenades at the field shelter where some 29 people from the Supernova desert rave were attempting to hide. Goldberg-Polin, Cohen and Levy were all in the same shelter.
The second portion, also previously released, showed Goldberg-Polin being led by terrorists onto the flatbed of the Hamas pickup truck, clutching his tourniquet-bound arm that had just been partially blown off below the elbow.
The two-minute third portion, released the evening, was edited and blurred in accordance with the requests of the families.
“The video is a sharp indictment of the abandonment that’s continued for 262 days,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
