Hamas has released a sickening hostage video of the youngest female Israeli still held in Gaza over 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped.
Liri Albag, 19, is seen shaking and crying as she is forced to beg for her government to save her in a sadistic three-and-a-half-minute clip.
She breaks down as she tells how some held with her have been ‘badly wounded’ and said she has ‘looked death in the eye’.
Making a direct request to Defence Secretary Israel Katz, she pleads, ‘You know my father. Look him in the eye and tell him that he and my mother do not deserve to hug their daughter.’
‘Look at them and tell them if you have the courage.’
She then addresses her parents, Shira and Eli, and siblings, telling them: ‘I love you so much. I miss you infinitely.’
While her distraught family asked that the full video is not shared, they agreed to release two still images to increase pressure to reach a deal.
In a released statement, they have expressed, ‘The video released today has shattered our hearts. The individual in the video is not the daughter and sister we recognize. It is evident that she is going through severe psychological distress.’
Hamas has released a sickening hostage video of Liri Albag who is still held in Gaza over 450 days since she was brutally kidnapped
In the video, 19-year-old Albag can be seen breaking down in tears
‘We witnessed Liri, our courageous family member, fighting to survive and asking for help. Despite being just a few kilometers away from us, we have been unable to reunite with her for 456 days now,’ they added.
‘We appeal to the Prime Minister, world leaders, and all decision makers: It’s time to make decisions as if your own children were there.
‘Liri is alive and must return alive. This depends only on you. You must not miss this current opportunity to bring them back. All of them.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​’
In addition to this statement, Liri’s parents also released a heartbreaking video appeal this afternoon in which they spoke directly to their daughter.
Liri’s mother Shira said: ‘I want to tell Liri, if she sees this: Liri, we are fighting for you, we aren’t giving up on you, and you’re coming home alive.Â
‘You’re coming back. Yes, it’s hard there and yes, you’re suffering, but you’re coming home alive.Â
‘Mom promises you, Mom and Dad promise you, and we keep our promises – it will happen soon, God willing, it will happen soon.Â
‘Believe in this, we aren’t giving up, don’t you give up either there, keep fighting and surviving. You’re strong and you’re capable. We’re here fighting for you. I love you so much and miss you terribly and am waiting to hug you’.
The 19-year-old’s father Eli followed: ‘Liri, if you’re hearing us, tell the others that all the families are moving heaven and earth and want their children home, and we will fight until all hostages are returned – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in Israel.Â
‘Tell the others – stay strong. Just a little longer and soon there will be a deal’.
Liri (pictured in blue) was also seen in another Hamas hostage video last year
Pictured alongside other hostages, the group of young Israeli women looked to have been injured by their captors
Liri pictured alongside Agam Berger with their hands tied behind their backs as they sit on the ground
Liri was completing her compulsory national service as an unarmed border observer when she was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on October 7.
Footage from that day showed her cowering in terror, sitting in pools of blood, as her abductors called her and her comrades ‘vile dogs’ and ‘Sabaya’ – an ancient Islamic term than can mean female sex slave.
She was taken alongside fellow teenage border guards Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, Agam Berger and Karina Ariev.
The Mail has fought to raise the plight of the youngest female captives in Gaza and our powerful article showing before and after pictures of them was taken to the UN and The Hague.
In a heart wrenching interview to mark the October 7 anniversary last year, Liri’s mother Shira, 52, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I know which child they took, but I don’t know what child I am going to get back after one year.
‘I know that Liri is a strong girl. But now… in my heart, I feel that she has become weak – and I don’t know how to help her to get stronger.’
She detailed how she tried to run into Gaza herself and is left so distraught that if she has no meetings her day consists of ‘just staying home in bed, crying’.
Negotiations are ongoing in Doha to reach a ceasefire deal to end the bloodshed in exchange for hostages and Liri is expected to be one of the first released.
Family members of Liri call for her release during a protest in Tel Aviv today
Eli Albag, Liri’s father, holds up two images, one of his daughter before the war and one of her in Hamas captivity
Incoming President Donald Trump has said there will be ‘hell to pay’ if they are not returned before he assumes office in a little over two weeks.
A spokesman for the hostage forum, which supports the families, said: ‘Sixteen days remain until the ultimatum set by President-elect Trump. We must not lose this historic window of opportunity.
‘It is time for our Prime Minister and other world leaders to take courageous action and bring Liri and all the hostages home.’
Hamas killed 1,200 and took 250 hostages in the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7, 2023. Nearly 100 captives remain in Gaza though at least 33 have been killed.
The IDF has killed 45,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, but Israel claims roughly half of the fatalities are terrorists.
