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‘Cruel Propaganda’: Hamas Releases Latest Video of Israeli Hostages Held in Gaza
Meirav Gilboa-Dalal and Gal Gilboa-Dalal, mother and brother of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, an Israeli held hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, attend a press conference after meeting with Pope Francis, in Rome, Italy, April 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Hamas released a video on Friday of two Israeli hostages seized from a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and one said he was being held in Gaza City, where the Israeli military has launched a major offensive to wipe out the Palestinian terrorist group.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel are two of 48 people still being held by Hamas in Gaza, with 20 thought to be still alive.
Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas took 251 hostages into the enclave after its cross-border attack on southern Israeli communities in 2023 that killed about 1,200 people, triggering the war. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political control in Gaza.
The video was edited and featured an exhausted-looking Gilboa-Dalal speaking for around three-and-a-half minutes. He is seen in a car for some of the video dated Aug. 28. Reuters could not independently determine when the video was recorded.
He says that he is being held in Gaza City along with several other hostages and that he is afraid of being killed by Israel’s offensive on the city.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military last month to capture Gaza‘s largest urban center, Gaza City, attacking what the government calls the last bastion of Hamas.
An Israeli military spokesman said on Thursday that it now controls about 40 percent of the city, where about one million people lived prior to the war. The military controls about 75 percent of Gaza.
Israel has been carrying out heavy strikes on the city for weeks, advancing through outer suburbs, and this week forces were within a few kilometers of the city center.
In the video, Gilboa-Dalal, 24, appears to be in the backseat of a car that is being driven around. As the car passes by buildings, he identifies one as belonging to the Red Cross. Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to see the hostages.
At one point, Ohel, 24, is also seen.
DICTATED SPEECH
Gilboa-Dalal was seen in a video in February being forced to watch other hostages being freed under a temporary ceasefire. Hostages who were filmed in similar videos and have since been freed have said their captors had dictated to them what to say.
Human Rights Watch has condemned Hamas and another terrorist group in Gaza for releasing videos of hostages, calling it inhumane treatment that amounts to a war crime. Israeli officials have described the videos as psychological warfare.
Netanyahu on Friday said it was “cruel propaganda.”
Tens of thousands of Israelis have staged weekly demonstrations calling for an end to the war to secure the hostages‘ release. Hundreds gathered on Friday at a public square in Tel Aviv to mark 700 days since the hostages were taken captive.
After the release of the video, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on X urged Israeli negotiators to resume talks on a deal to secure the hostages. Most of those released so far were as a result of diplomatic negotiations mediated by the United States and Arab states, but the last round of talks collapsed in July.
However, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel should respond by fully occupying Gaza.
Israel’s military leadership has warned Netanyahu against expanding the war, according to Israeli officials. Families of Israeli hostages and their supporters fear the attack could endanger the captives.
Hamas has said it would release some hostages for a temporary ceasefire. Netanyahu is pushing for an all or nothing deal with Hamas releasing all hostages and surrendering.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday military operations would intensify until Hamas accepts Israel’s conditions for ending the war: release the hostages and disarm. Otherwise, the group would be destroyed, he said.
The terrorist group has long offered to release all hostages in exchange for an end to the war and Israel’s withdrawal.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.