The al Qassam brigades’ posts video of Israeli hostage alive sending message to his family

The al Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, posted a video on Friday showing one of the living male Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack in 2023, sending a message to his family.

The hostage is heard in the video calling on the Israeli authorities not to abandon them and to proceed with the second phase of the ceasefire agreement to return them.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement lasted six weeks, and allowed the return of 33 hostages to Israel, including eight dead, while Israel released about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners who were in its prisons.

With the expiration of the first phase last weekend, Israel announced its desire to extend it until mid-April based on a US proposal, while Hamas insisted on the need to negotiate the second phase, which is supposed to put an end to the war.

The Israeli hostage held by Hamas, Matan Angrest, said that the only way for the prisoners to return to Israel is through an exchange deal and moving to the second stage of it, calling on US President Donald Trump to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has evaded the second stage of returning the prisoners.

“The only way to get us back is through a swap deal and moving to the second phase,” Angrest said in the video.

He added that he was captured on October 7, 2023, in the Nahal Oz area in southern Israel, and there was hope that he would return to his family with the news that spoke of the exchange deal and the release of the prisoners.

He continued, “We feel that the Israeli army, the state and the government have abandoned us during this long period of captivity”.

Angrest pointed out that the prisoners are beginning to lose hope, saying, “We don’t see the end”.

He said, “I want to tell the army that you won’t succeed in bringing us back through military force… The only way to bring us back is through an exchange deal and moving to the second stage”.

Angrest added, “I heard about the stages of the deal… This does not concern the prisoners… We want to return home… Release all the prisoners and end this story… Everyone goes their own way”.

He continued, “I beg you to bring us back alive and not in coffins… We want to stay alive”.

Angrest also pointed out that the conditions in captivity are difficult, saying, “It’s not easy, there is no sun, and the cold of winter affects us… We are treated as soldiers and not as civilian prisoners”.

He called on the Israeli prisoners who were released in the first phase of the deal to help them, saying, “Fight for us, you know what we have been through here and we are still suffering”.

In a letter to US President Donald Trump, Angrest said, “We beg you to return all the prisoners. You are the only one who has the power to influence Netanyahu and the (Israeli) government… Help make this deal happen”.

“Do everything you can to get us home as quickly as possible,” he added.

Angrest also addressed his family, saying, “My mother Anat, my father Hagai, my sister Adi, my brother Ophir, my brother Adraee, I am waiting for the moment when I will see you and hug you, and I am confident that you are fighting for me and doing everything to bring me home”.

He also sent a message to the Israelis, saying, “I ask you to take to the streets and not abandon us”.

On Thursday, the new Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Eyal Zamir, threatened to resume the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19.

According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, “There are still 24 kidnapped people in the Gaza Strip who are classified as alive, but the estimate in Israel is that 22 of them are still alive, in addition to the bodies of 35 kidnapped people”.

On January 19, a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect.

The agreement includes three stages, each lasting 42 days, with negotiations taking place in the first stage to begin the second, with the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the support of the United States.

Israel reneged on the agreement by refusing to move to its second phase, after the first phase ended last Saturday night.

Netanyahu, backed by a US green light, wants to extend the first phase of the agreement to release the largest possible number of Israeli prisoners without offering anything in return or completing the military and humanitarian entitlements imposed in the agreement during the past period.

In return, Hamas affirms its commitment to implementing the agreement, and demands that Israel be bound by all its provisions, calling on the mediators to immediately begin negotiations for the second phase, which includes an Israeli withdrawal from the Strip and a complete cessation of the war.