A group representing the family of the Israeli hostages released a troubling video Saturday implying that the kidnapped women may have been impregnated by their terrorist captors — while a polio vaccination campaign got underway in the Gaza Strip.
The Hostage Family Forum published a video that showed a visibly pregnant woman sitting in a rubble-strewn tunnel while a baby cried in the background, Israel’s N12 channel reported.
The clip was captioned “it’s been more than nine months.”
Only some parts of the video were approved for public viewing by the Jewish state’s Second Authority for Television and Radio, the Jerusalem Post said.
The safety of the women hostages has been a major concern for the Israeli public, particularly after footage was released of female IDF soldiers being kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on Oct.7.
In the video, the terrorists can be heard referring to the young women as “sex slaves,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Hostages who were freed during the temporary exchange deals in November confirmed that female captives were subjected to sexual violence.
Saturday evening, loved ones of the remaining hostages read a statement in front of the IDF headquarters condemning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the ongoing war.
“Netanyahu and his partners in the cabinet decided to torpedo the [hostage-ceasefire] deal due to the Philadelphia spin, and as such knowingly condemn the hostages to death,” the statement read, The Times of Israel reported.
“Netanyahu is not Mr. Security, he is Mr. Death. He is undermining the deal in cold blood,” added Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker.
Separately, a polio vaccination campaign started in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after the first case of the crippling disease was recorded in the territory in almost 25 years.
Children in Gaza are beginning to receive the vaccines one day ahead of a largescale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting, agreed upon by Israel and the UN World Health Organization.
About 10 infants got the dose at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to reports.
The goal is to vaccinate about 650,000 Palestinian children during the official, nine-hour pause – which is not related to the ceasefire negotiations.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels are suspected to have fired two missiles at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden late Friday.
The missiles splashed down without causing any damage, authorities said.
The attack came a week after the Houthis targeted and then boarded a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea. The attackers filled the ship with explosives, which they later detonated – risking a major oil spill.
The attacks were part of the rebel’s ongoing campaign to disrupt the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea annually.
In other developments:
— The commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s central Gaza brigade, Muhammad Qatrawi, was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet announced.
— Two Palestinian terrorists were killed by the IDF at the scene of two car bombs that exploded in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank late Friday, the Times of Israel said. Six other Palestinians were detained following the car bombings. IDF forces later demolished a bomb-making operation in Henron they said was the source of the devices.
The first explosion went off at a gas station near a road junction. Troops dispatched to the scene fatally shot a terrorist who arrived in a vehicle and tried to attack them, according to the military.
A second attacker breached the Karmei Tzur settlement about 20 minutes later, and was shot dead by the IDF.
The terrorist’s car exploded in the community, according to the Times of Israel.
With Post wires
