Hamas releases new video of hostages

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City — Hamas released a video Saturday showing hostages Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana, who appeared under duress. They were abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack from a music festival where over 300 people were killed. Hamas released a video of them a month and half ago and has released several videos of Bohbot alone since then.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped over 250 others. Hamas still holds about 59 hostages, with around a third believed to still be alive.

Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Hamas health officials.

Israel’s military said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.

Israel resumed its bombardment in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, Israel’s blockade on the territory of over 2 million people is in its third month.

Under Israel’s blockade, dozens of charity kitchens have shut down as food supplies run out. Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm.

The U.N. and aid groups have rejected Israel’s aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.