Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in Gaza, speaking to the camera and describing how they had survived what they claimed was an Israeli airstrike.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli advocacy group, confirmed that one of the captives in the video was Maxim Herkin, identified by his family. Israeli media named the second hostage as Israeli soldier Bar Kuperstein. Herkin’s family urged the media not to distribute the footage.
Both men were abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the ongoing Gaza war.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed faction, released a more than two-minute video showing the captives sitting close together.
Herkin, appearing with bandages on his right cheek and hand, spoke to the camera under apparent duress. AFP was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the footage or determine when it was recorded.
Kuperstein, a resident of Holon near Tel Aviv, was 21 years old when he was abducted. Though off-duty at the time, he was working as part of the festival staff and was taken while trying to assist concertgoers.
Herkin, who also holds Russian citizenship, was 35 at the time of his capture. Originally from Ukraine, he had emigrated to Israel with his mother. Before being taken from the festival, Herkin—father to a young girl—sent a final message to his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.”
The release of the video came a day after Israeli forces launched a ground offensive in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, aiming to expand their security perimeter inside Palestinian territory. Hamas’s armed wing warned on Friday that this military operation was endangering the lives of hostages.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported at least 29 people killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday across different areas of the territory.
According to Israeli military figures, 58 hostages remain captive in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.
During a six-week ceasefire that ended when Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18, Hamas fighters released 33 hostages—eight of whom were deceased.
Hamas’s October 7 attack killed 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s military response has resulted in at least 50,669 deaths in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to numbers from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
