The Al-Qassam Brigades released a video featuring Israeli captive Liri Albag, who criticized the Israeli government, expressed her suffering in Gaza, and called for her release while condemning the ongoing bombardment and military operations.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, released a new recording today, Saturday, featuring an Israeli soldier captive in Gaza. In the video, she expressed her suffering and sharply criticized the Israeli government, accusing it of failing to secure the release of prisoners. She also described the harsh conditions she is enduring.
The captive, Liri Albag, who is 19 years old, said: “I have been a prisoner in Gaza for over 450 days… My whole life is ahead of me, but it has stopped here.”
She continued:
“Today marks the beginning of a new year, and the whole world is celebrating. But for us, it’s the start of a dark year, full of loneliness… We are not a priority for our government or our army, and even the world is starting to forget us and no longer cares about our suffering.”
In an emotional message to her family, Albag said: “Mom, Dad, Roni, Shai, Guy, Nir… I love you very much and miss you so much.”
Albag also spoke about a comrade who was seriously injured in recent military operations, saying: “We are living a terrifying nightmare. Our survival depends on the army’s withdrawal and not reaching us.”
She directed a question to her country’s government: “If your loved ones were the ones in captivity, would the war still be ongoing? Do you want to kill us?”
The video showed Albag with her face in her hands, crying, and delivering a direct message to former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying: “You know my father. Look into his eyes and tell him that he and my mother will never embrace their daughter again… You won’t have the courage to do that.”
The Al-Qassam Brigades released a video featuring Israeli captive Liri Albag, who criticized the Israeli government, expressed her suffering in Gaza, and called for her release while condemning the ongoing bombardment and military operations. pic.twitter.com/LzCAEmsj6x
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 4, 2025
‘You Are Playing with Our Fates’
With an angry tone, she added:
“After I saw my death with my own eyes and what happened to my friend, I realized that our lives are not important to you. I understood that we are just pawns in your hands, and you are toying with our destinies. You will certainly not be able to bring us out alive through military operations… This will not succeed, and you know that.”
Albag expressed her frustration with the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, saying:
“It’s madness to think that this approach will achieve anything. We live under constant, insane bombing every day. Do you know what it’s like to live in a place that is being bombed and there are no shelters?”
In the final part of her message, the captive soldier said:
“If something happens to me, remember me and remember my name… Write on my grave: All of this is because of the government and the army. They are the ones guilty, they are the ones who killed us, and my blood is on their hands.” She concluded by urging her family: “Family, do everything that is necessary.”
The recording depicted Albag’s deteriorating mental state, highlighting that the current situation poses a real threat to her life and the lives of other prisoners.
Around a month ago, the Al-Qassam Brigades released a recording from Israeli captive Metan Tsanjawker, who harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holding him responsible for the continued detention of prisoners in Gaza, while also discussing his own conditions of captivity.
Earlier, Hamas had announced the deaths of 33 Israeli prisoners it had held, most of whom were killed in Israeli airstrikes on various parts of Gaza since the start of the offensive in October 2023.
In the first week of September 2024, Al-Qassam also released audio recordings of six Israeli prisoners whose bodies were recovered by the Israeli army in early September from a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza. Among them was Hirsch Goldberg, who held American citizenship.
All these recordings have held the Israeli government under Netanyahu and its security and military apparatus accountable for the events of October 7, 2023, and have called for a swift prisoner exchange agreement, alongside continued popular demonstrations demanding the return of the prisoners alive.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Even if Wasrael ” rescues ” the captives, they’ll just shoot them thinking they’re now spies for Hamas.
This poor 19 year old girl has a gun to her head and has been told exactly what to say like every other hostage before her. Hamas are doing this to torture her family- if they wanted the war to end or if Hamas cared at all about Palestinian civilians, they would have released the hostages by now.