The hostage staged in a video on Saturday May 11 by the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization was identified as Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old Israeli-British citizen from Kibbutz Nirim.
The armed wing of Hamas announced Saturday evening May 11 on Telegram the death of an Israeli hostage, held in Gaza since the terrorist attack of the Islamist group on October 7, and of whom it had broadcast images of him alive a few hours earlier. . The fate of the hostage was not mentioned by the army spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, in his press briefing on Saturday evening. The same day, Joe Biden estimated that a ceasefire was possible “tomorrow” if Hamas released the hostages.
In the video, the hostage was identified by the Hostage Families Forum, an association representing some of the hostage families, as Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old Israeli-British citizen from Kibbutz Nirim.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades claimed in a video that he died on Saturday, and blamed his death on “injuries suffered after Zionist fighter planes (Israeli, editor’s note) targeted the place where he was detained more than a month ago.”
Several tens of thousands of demonstrators in Tel Aviv
Shortly before, the armed group had released a first video. These images, lasting around ten seconds, and whose recording date is not specified, show the hostage, with a swollen eye and a haggard look, who articulates his name and his age. He is standing in front of a white tiled wall, in a place that appears dark.
The message from the armed wing of Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union, is accompanied by hashtags written in Arabic and Hebrew: “Hurry up” And “your government is lying.”
The video of this hostage came on the 218th day of war and while indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to achieve a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages seem to be at an impasse. The delegations of the mediating countries (Egypt, Qatar, United States) left Cairo on Thursday without an agreement following talks. In total, more than 250 people were kidnapped on October 7 and 128 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are believed to have died, according to the army.
On Saturday evening, hundreds of demonstrators chanted slogans against Benjamin Netanyahu in front of his official residence in Jerusalem, accusing him and his cabinet of having abandoned the Gaza hostages. A demonstration against the government, bringing together tens of thousands of people, also took place in Tel Aviv where scuffles broke out between the police and the demonstrators.