Hamas has aired a video of three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza, urging Israel to halt its offensive and bring about their release.
The undated 37-second video shows Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, who were among those taken by Hamas fighters during the 7 October attacks.
Sky News has chosen not to share the Hamas video.
It comes as the White House said it was “the right time” for Israel to scale back its military operations in Gaza.
Much of the densely-populated strip of land has been razed to the ground by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and the Hamas-run health ministry says some 24,100 people have been killed and nearly 61,000 wounded.
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Around half of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas were released during the short-lived November truce, but Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and that 25 have died in captivity.
Speaking on CBS, White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said the US has been speaking to Israel “about a transition to low-intensity operations” in Gaza.
“We believe it’s the right time for that transition. And we’re talking to them about doing that,” he said on Face The Nation.
The war has sent tensions soaring across the region, with Israel trading fire almost daily with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and Iranian-backed militias attacking US targets in Syria and Iraq.
In addition, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been targeting international shipping, drawing a wave of UK and US air strikes last week.
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Meanwhile, at least 14 people were injured in an attack near Tel Aviv in Israel on Monday morning, according to emergency services.
With the fate of the three hostages uncertain, Israeli forces bombarded targets in the south, north and centre of Gaza on
Monday.
In Al Nusseirat refugee camp, local journalist Doaa el Baz showed footage to Reuters of what had once been the street where she lived.
“This whole neighbourhood is destroyed,” she said. “Not a single house has been spared.”
“They killed all our dreams here. The house where I grew up and spent all my childhood,” she said, her voice trembling.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
