CAIRO (Reuters) – Hamas’ armed wing posted a one minute video message on Monday via its Telegram account showing three elderly Israeli hostages pleading for their release.
One man, who identified himself as 79-year-old Haiem Bery, was seated in the middle of two others around the same age, speaking in Hebrew into the barrel of the camera. He said he was being held with other elderly hostages with chronic illnesses, and that all of them were living in very harsh conditions.
“We are the generation who built the foundation for the creation of Israel. We are the ones who started the IDF military. We don’t understand why we have been abandoned here,” he said.
“You have to release us from here. It does not matter the cost. We don’t want to be casualties as a direct result of the IDF military airstrikes. Release us with no conditions. Don’t let us grow old here,” he added.
The video ends with all three men repeating the phrase in unison, “Don’t let us grow old here.”
(Reporting by Adam Makary and Moaz Abd Alaziz; editing by Christina Fincher)
