Video shows US and Israeli hostages alive in Gaza | BBC News

Hello and welcome to BBC News. I'm Laqua Buak and we begin the program in the Middle East, where Israel's Foreign Minister has said that a planned ground attack on the southern Gaza town of Refa could be called off if a deal emerges to free the

hostages

being held. They are still being detained. held by Hamas Israel's cats said their freedom was a top priority. The hostage release also forms a key part of international mediation efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war. Hamas has released a new

video

showing two of the

hostages

captured during its October attack.

Keith Seagull and Omry Miran are identified in the

video

, although it is not dated, there is a reference to the recent Passover holiday. It is the second such video that Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, has released in recent days. Our correspondent Anna Foster sent us this update from T Aviv. rry Moran's father was already on the list of confirmed speakers for this event tonight when he took the stage and spoke about the time he said he was sitting having coffee with someone and talking about his grandson when the man he he was talking he held his phone and said look here is a picture of a video they posted an omry video now what was also interesting since the crowd gathered here tonight is that they showed that video in full it's not something that that It usually happens because, of course, when you see the people in it, the two men in this case look very malnourished, obviously speaking under Jess sending messages to their families and urging the Israeli government to come to some kind of agreement, some kind of agreement. agreement to try to secure his release now, of course, that agreement and those talks have been going on for weeks and weeks.

The last time we saw a significant release of hostages was at the end of last year, at one point we were told that the talks had really been very very broken down, the two sides were not really in communication at all, but the visit of the Egyptian delegations this week and additional efforts from the US and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin lead us to believe that the briefings are perhaps getting a little bit closer in terms of trying to achieve an agreement, but certainly those powerful messages that we heard on stage tonight from the hostage families were speaking directly to the leaders of Israel, directly to the politicians and saying that it is necessary to make an agreement while they are still

alive

, while we know that our loved ones are still

alive

, they must do everything possible to ensure their release now and that was Anna Foster there.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin is set to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, as negotiations between Israel and Hamas remain in limbo, this will be his seventh trip to the Middle East since the war began. . It is part of President Biden's efforts to encourage a ceasefire and prevent the conflict from spreading. He will also ask for the release of those. hostages from October 7 attack Muhammad Taha is from the BBC Arabic service and spoke to me previously to find out more about those fragile hostage negotiations. Both sides are putting enormous pressure on each side to accept the hostage deal with no number of conditions that Israel is putting pressure on, they are intensifying the military operation, they are threatening to start the operation in Rafa overnight.

We saw 30 people killed in the bombings in Middle Gaza and in the RAF, 10 of them are children. Israel believes only military pressure. on Hamas would make them accept the hostage deal. On the other hand, we saw Hamas release these videos of hostages urging the Israeli government to accept that deal and I heard a clip of a Hamas official saying that Israel wants them voluntarily. voluntarily return the hostages accept that Israel continues to occupy Gaza voluntarily accept not having a permanent ceasefire and Hamas would say why would we accept all this without a prospect of ending this war so what is Mr.

Blinkin likely to achieve? it means you have a big job since you leave tomorrow, in fact, Mr. Blinkin on your tours, as you said, this is tour number seven, you are trying to put this conflict in a broader context, so you are trying to convince the Arab countries that you know. The United States is committed to the two-state solution is committed to the long-term solution for the Palestinian cause is trying to convince Saudi Arabia to return to the path of normalization the relationship with Israel is trying to gain a broader perspective and even Hamas announced last week that they are willing to discuss disarmament if the two-state solution would be viable, so it is trying to make Israel only trying to achieve the two main objectives of this war that destroys Hamas. releasing the hostages and the United States trying to find a long-term agreement, a long-term agreement for the Palestinian cause that would give the Americans peace of mind for a time.