‘Phone your mother too,’ family tells Maxim Herkin in call before release

Hostage Maxim Herkin is seen talking to his family from Gaza, flanked by a masked Hamas fighter, in footage from some time before his release shared by Channel 12.

Family members tell him he should also call his mother, who is not in the same room.

“We will call her, she did not answer,” Herkin is heard responding, apparently referring to him and the Hamas man with him.

Herkin tells family members that Bar Kupershtein cannot come to the telephone because “they already took him to the car,” possibly referring to the Red Cross cars.

He also says that Segev Kalfon is “good.” “Everything is okay with him.”

Several hostages have made video calls to their families while still in the hands of their captors today.

In many cases, masked terrorists could be clearly seen in the frame standing behind them, suggesting that the hostages could still not speak freely.