Israel knows abducted female soldiers are alive, in tunnels, says mother of one of them

Surveillance soldier Liri Albag who is held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, pictured (right) in captivity in a photograph that was made public by her family on July 16, 2024 (Courtesy)
Surveillance soldier Liri Albag who is held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, pictured (right) in captivity in a photograph that was made public by her family on July 16, 2024 (Courtesy)

Israel recently received a sign of life from female soldiers held hostage in the Gaza Strip, says the mother of one of them.

Shiri Albag, whose daughter Liri is one of five surveillance soldiers kidnapped by terrorists from the Nahal Oz base on October 7, tells Ynet that “around a month and a half ago, we received a sign of life from the girls.

“We weren’t told more than that,” she adds. “We know the girls are alive. They have been surviving, in tunnels, for more than seven months.”

Yesterday, the families agreed to make public photos of the soldiers from their first days of captivity, injured and bruised.

Albag says the photos are taken from a Hamas video retrieved by the IDF during operations in Gaza and first shown to the families about a month ago.

“Each family saw the part [in the video] of their daughter,” she says. “We saw a staged video — [captors] told her to say where she’s from and how old she is, ‘lie down and get up.’ She did whatever she was told, with tears in her eyes.”

Albag adds that she knows that the women were later separated from one another.

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