Hamas releases video of three Israeli women hostages held in Gaza

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Palestinian militant group Hamas released a video on Friday showing three Israeli women held hostage in Gaza since the October 7 attack.

Two of the women who appeared in the five-minute video -- Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev -- said they were Israeli soldiers both aged 19.

The third, 30-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, identified herself as a resident of an Israeli community near the Gaza border.

The three women have been identified by AFP using official and community sources.

The women said they had been detained for 107 days, suggesting the video may have been filmed on Sunday.

Their comments were broadly critical of Israel's failure to rescue them, while all three referred to be under fire or bombardment.

The release of the video came shortly after a ruling by the United Nations' top court that Israel should do everything it can to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza.

The International Court of Justice also called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of hostages who were abducted during the October 7 assault.

That unprecedented Hamas attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.

At least 26,083 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments and ground offensive since then, according to the Hamas government's health ministry.