Hamas Touts 'Good Treatment' of Female Prisoners After New Video Emerges

The Palestinian militant Hamas movement has defended its treatment of a group of female Israeli soldiers after their families released a graphic video on Wednesday of them being taken captive during the October 7, 2023, assault that sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The roughly three-minute-long edited clip, said to have been filmed by Hamas fighters around 9 a.m., local time, at the Nahal Oz military base located near the border with Gaza, depicts the women being rounded up in a room with their hands bound, some of them bloodied.

Hamas' surprise attack on Israel more than seven and a half months ago killed more than 1,200 people with around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel subsequently launched what has become the longest and deadliest-ever war in Gaza, with the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-led territory reporting more than 34,000 Palestinians killed and the IDF counting around 280 dead among its own ranks.

The women in the recently released footage have been identified as Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, all Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) observers tasked with spotting hostile movement across the Israel-Gaza security fence, and all still believed to be in custody of other Palestinian factions, along with up to 123 other detainees.

Hamas fighters can be seen shouting at the women and threatening them with violence for the IDF's past actions in Gaza. One fighter refers to them as "sabaya," which means female captives, but is translated in the video's English-language subtitles as "girls (women who can get pregnant)," a translation that was disputed by a number of Arabic-language speakers on social media.

"The video of the female observers' abduction is a wake-up call to the civilized world," the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement accompanying the release of the video on Wednesday. "We must condemn those actions and we cannot abandon the hostages held captive for 229 days."

Hamas also disputed the nature of the scenes depicted in the footage, which the group said in a statement Thursday "is fragmented and has been manipulated, and the authenticity of what it contains in cannot be confirmed."

The Hamas statement pointed to past events as proof that "the female soldiers were treated in accordance with the ethical rules of our resistance, and no mistreatment for them in this unit was proven, even though they were part of a unit that is involved in killing our people and which caused deaths to hundreds of peaceful demonstrators on the Gaza border."

"All images and scenes in the recent prisoners' exchange confirmed the good treatment they had received from the resistance in Gaza," the group said, "In contrast to the oppression, abuse, and murder that our prisoners received in the occupation prisons."

Hamas acknowledged the women's wounds but dismissed them as "traces of little blood or minor injuries" that "is something to be expected in such operations and the stampede that could occur."

The group also argued that "the scenes did not show any physical attacks on any of them, but rather showed a dialogue between the fighters and the female soldiers without any assault or violence."

"There is deliberate cutting in the scenes and a selection of images and clips to support the occupation's allegations and lies on assaulting female soldiers," Hamas said.

'Edited and Censored'

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum acknowledged that the video had been "edited and censored," but only "to exclude the most disturbing scenes, such as the numerous murdered young men and women at the Nahal Oz base and inside the bomb shelter from which the female observers were taken."

The clip was also reported to have been released in order to put additional pressure on the Israeli government and other parties to secure a ceasefire deal that would allow the release of the hostages.

"The Israeli government and the international community can't waste another moment—we must get back to the negotiation table today!" the forum said

Israeli officials also shared the clip, with President Isaac Herzog calling it a "cruel atrocity" and appealing to all those who believe in women's rights and freedom "to speak out and do everything possible to bring all of the hostages home" in a statement published Thursday on X, formerly Twitter.

Hamas spokesperson Bassem Naim shared with Newsweek another graphic video, purporting to show dead and wounded Palestinians, including an infant, near a mosque at the Al-Sahaba neighborhood in the Al-Daraj Quarter of Gaza City.

"The last crime of the 'MOST MORAL' army, the IDF, in Gaza city this morning," he wrote. "GAZA GENOCIDE."

Reached for comment, an IDF spokesperson told Newsweek that "Hamas is a terrorist organization and we are not commenting on their claims."

Newsweek has also reached out to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum via email for comment.

Israeli and Hamas officials have accused one another of committing war crimes throughout the conflict in Gaza. Leaders on both sides are being sought after arrest warrants were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The move was announced Monday by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and met with criticism from the two warring parties.

Military Operations Continue

Clashes, meanwhile, continued on the ground in Gaza as both the IDF and Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed new operations on Thursday.

The IDF announced new aerial and ground operations across the territory, including in the areas of Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya and Rafah, a southern city that has been at the center of U.S. concerns over the potential humanitarian impact of a full-on offensive.

The IDF said its forces were operating in a "specific areas" of Rafah, "while making every effort to prevent harm to civilians and after the civilian population in the area was evacuated."

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli military officials were in communication with U.S. counterparts about the operation in Rafah.

"We're not smashing into Rafah, we're operating carefully and precisely," Hagari said in video remarks on Thursday. "So far, we have eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists, exposed dozens of terror tunnels and destroyed vast amounts of infrastructure, including rocket launchers with rockets inside waiting to be launched by Hamas at Israeli homes."

He accused Hamas of "waging war while embedding themselves inside and under civilian areas in Rafah because Hamas wants Gazan civilians to be caught in the crossfire—We don't."

The Al-Qassam Brigades, for its part, claimed new operations Thursday using rockets. mortars and hidden explosives against IDF personnel in Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya and Rafah.

The Hamas military wing also released a video taunting Israel for failing to secure a deal to retrieve IDF Colonel Asaf Hamami, whose death was confirmed by Israeli officials but not Hamas.

"Colonel Asaf Hamami. He was captured on 10/7 and was injured during his arrest," the video's text said in Hebrew, Arabic and English. "What is his fate now? What kind of political leadership leaves its military commanders in captivity!! Time is running out."

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