Al-Qassam Brigades release video message from Israeli captive

By Nour Abuaisha and Ikram Kouachi

GAZA CITY, Palestine / ANKARA (AA) - The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, released a brief video on Saturday featuring an audio message from an Israeli captive, titled “Soon ... Time is Running Out.”

The 21-second clip contains a voice message from an unnamed captive, directed to his mother.

No image, name, or identifying details of the captive were shown in the video. It ends with the image of an hourglass and the phrase “Time is running out” written in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.

Al-Qassam has repeatedly warned of the dangers posed to captives by Israel’s ongoing refusal to resume ceasefire negotiations and its deliberate targeting of areas where hostages are held, according to previous statements by the group.

On Tuesday, Al-Qassam spokesperson Abu Ubaida announced the loss of contact with the unit holding Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander following a direct Israeli airstrike on their location.

“We are still trying to reach them,” Abu Ubaida said on Telegram, adding that Israel appears to be targeting captives with dual citizenship to reduce pressure on its government and continue its genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Earlier, Al-Qassam aired a video of Alexander accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of misleading US President Donald Trump, obstructing his and other captives’ release.

“Every day, I see Netanyahu controlling the country like a dictator while I fall apart physically and mentally,” he said.

Israel currently believes that 24 of the 59 remaining hostages in Gaza are still alive. Meanwhile, over 9,500 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails, many suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has led to numerous deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli rights groups.

More than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.