CAIRO – 3 May 2025: Hamas released a video of captive Maxim Herkin, who delivers a message of distress while lying down with his head and one eye bandaged. He says he has survived Israeli strikes twice since the resumption of war in March.
Herkin identified himself as “prisoner number 24” and one of 59 captives still held in Gaza, stating that he is now in a tunnel after an Israeli airstrike targeted them, before their underground location was hit again.
“These are the results of military pressure and the war to release prisoners that Mr. Netanyahu and his ruling coalition are talking about to the people,” said Herkin.
“My situation is very difficult. I don’t have any medication. Going to the hospital is out of the question.”
Herkin spoke about his colleague, Bar Kupershtein, who appeared with him in a previous video by Hamas last month, saying he does not about his friend’s fate now following the Israeli strikes on their location.
Hamas on Saturday released a new video, showing captives Maxim Herkin and Bar Kupershtein, held in Gaza since 7 October, 2023, while saying that they “miraculously escaped death” after an Israeli strike hit a building they were in.#مصر_ترفض_التهجير #Egypt #Palestine #MiddleEast… pic.twitter.com/bCwqQG4Ie2
— Egypt Today Magazine (@EgyptTodayMag) April 5, 2025
“If Mr. Netanyahu’s son or the son of one of the coalition ministers had been here, I promise you, this war would have stopped long ago and they would all have returned to their homes.”
“Because that’s not the case, we are underground.”
Herkin called for Israeli people to take to the streets for the captives.
“Everyone is against us, whether the government or the prime minister. We don’t count on them.”
“Please, help us. I beg you. Please, don’t sit in homes. Don’t let the government normalize this situation for you.”
“Without you, there’s no hope.”
“Mr. Netanyahu, of course … will say again that this is ‘psychological warfare’. And I will say what the real ‘psychological warfare’ is. The real psychological warfare is within me.”
“This video clip may be the last my family will ever see.”
A Palestinian infant starved to death in the Gaza Strip on Saturday due to the famine and dehydration in the besieged enclave, bringing the number of malnutrition victims in the Gaza Strip to 57 fatalities#Egypt #Africa #MENAhttps://t.co/HhvcShsOdF
— Egypt Today Magazine (@EgyptTodayMag) May 3, 2025
Hamas continues to hold 59 captives, with at least 22 believed to be alive, and has expressed readiness to release all remaining captives in exchange for an end to the Israeli war.
However, Israeli forces resumed bombardment on Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire that had resulted in the release of 38 captives from Gaza, 30 of whom were alive.
The war in Gaza has so far killed nearly 52,500 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, including more than 2,390 fatalities since the resumption of bombardment, according to the health ministry in the enclave.
Israel has rejected Hamas's offers for a captive deal that would involve the release of all captives in exchange for a permanent ceasefire.
Instead, Tel Aviv has proposed only a temporary truce, stating that Hamas must disarm for a permanent ceasefire to be established—a condition that Hamas has described as "impossible" and a "red line."
Hamas has warned that the renewed Israeli aggression represents "a death sentence" for the remaining captives.
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