Family in tears as first proof of hostage alive released by Hamas in seven months
Rachel Goldberg-Polin ran home when her husband, John, called last week. He had just been told by the FBI and Israeli intelligence that Hamas was about to publish a video of their son Hersh, from captivity in Gaza.
It was the first proof he was alive since he was taken hostage at the Nova music festival on 7 October.
She said: “I’m running home so that we could be together. I was quickly calling the grandparents, my daughters and our team, the people who surround us every day and help us to warn them, because we didn’t know what was going to be in the video. So we were scared.
“We watched it together with everybody else and truthfully, the first time we saw it, we were just crying and not really listening, just hearing his voice, not listening to the content.”
In the video, Hersh is sat against a plain white wall, wearing a red and blue t-shirt.
The handsome 24-year-old, whose smiling photo is on most street corners in West Jerusalem alongside the phrase “Free Hersh” is now pale, with bags under his eyes and cropped hair.
Hersh was taken captive at the Nova music festival
His left hand is missing, blown off by a grenade as Hamas stormed into Israel that October morning. The toll of seven months as a Hamas hostage is obvious.
“There wasn’t anger. It was relief, and heartbreak that he looked obviously medically compromised and fragile, seeing his arm for the first time since seeing his arm blown off from the original abduction video was something.
“As a parent, you would never want to see that.”
‘There wasn’t anger. It was relief, and heartbreak,’ Rachel said
Rachel has only watched the full video properly three times but has viewed it on mute to see her son moving and listened to the audio close to her ear just so that she could hear his voice.
“I’ll take it as a mother when he says that the most important thing is family and he talks to us saying: ‘I love you and I hope you know that. I’ll see you soon’. And again, that was probably all scripted, but I’ll take it.
“When you’re starving and someone gives you a dry piece of bread, you’ll take it, and I was glad to take it.”
Rachel’s father, Hersh’s grandfather, broke down in floods of tears when he heard about the video. He had been privately convinced his grandson was dead but had stayed strong for his daughter’s sake.
A potential ceasefire?
Negotiations for a new ceasefire are ongoing.
Hamas is studying a new proposal from Israel that reportedly demands the release of 20 hostages in an initial phase in return for a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and the freedom for Gazans in the south to return home to the north.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday described it as a “generous” offer and Hamas is expected to deliver its answer in the coming days.
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‘We can’t have so many people killed’
Get the latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war
For the families of the 133 hostages still in Gaza, it has been traumatic to have hopes raised so many times, only for a possible deal to fall apart.
‘Don’t count your hostages until they’re home’
For seven months Rachel has not worn make-up or jewellery, listened to music or watched the news.
The only accessory on her clothing is a ripped piece of tape with the number 207 written on: the number of days her son has been hostage.
It’s been more than 200 days since Rachel’s son was taken hostage
With her husband, she has travelled to Washington and Davos to address world leaders and campaigned to keep the story of every hostage alive.
Like every hostage family member I have met over the past seven months, their focus is not just on bringing their loved one home, but every single hostage home.
“You know honestly, we’ve learned the expression ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch’ and so we say, ‘don’t count your hostages until they’re home’.
“I just think we have to protect ourselves emotionally and psychologically, so we’re certainly optimistic and hopeful and always praying for a positive outcome, but I’m very cautious.
“I think all of the families are very careful not to be counting on something before we really have a reason to count on it.”
Read more:
Hamas releases video of hostages
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‘Not just’ about the hostages
Rachel’s message to leaders, as the negotiations again enter a difficult and crucial phase, is to compromise for the sake of everyone, Israelis, Palestinians and other nationalities caught up:
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Hostage’s parents plead for his release
“It’s not just about the 133 hostages who represent 25 different countries who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist, and who range in age from 15 months old to 85, 86 years old. This is not just about the 133 hostages.
“This is about hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who are suffering in this region, in Gaza.
“And there can be an end to it. I think that it will require tremendous courage and compromise. Compromise is always difficult. Prices are always steep. It’s always painful. That’s the point of compromise, is that you’re willing to give up on something you hold dear for something that’s even more precious, but you pay for it.
“And I would say to the people who are in those rooms to make the bold choice to do the thing that will give your people relief, your own people relief.”
World
Romania scrambles fighter jets after Russian drone ‘breaches airspace’ – as Zelenskyy warns of war ‘expansion’
Romania has said a drone breached its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine.
Fighter jets were scrambled on Saturday, coming close to taking down the aircraft as it was flying very low before it left national airspace toward Ukraine, defence minister Ionut Mosteanu said.
Romania is the latest NATO member state to report an incursion, with Poland deploying aircraft and closing an airport in the eastern city of Lublin on Saturday, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its airspace.
They are the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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Russian drones enter Polish airspace: What we know
Meanwhile, military exercises are taking place over the Barents Sea, with Russia and Belarus conducting joint drills.
Russian MiG-31 fighter jets equipped with hypersonic ballistic missiles completed a four-hour flight over the neutral waters as part of ongoing “Zapad 2025” military exercises, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.
Romania has had Russian drone fragments fall on to its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Two F-16 fighter jets were initially scrambled by Romania, and later two Eurofighters.
Citizens in the southeastern county of Tulcea near the Danube and its Ukrainian border were warned to take cover, the defence ministry said.
The ministry said the drone dropped off their radar 20km (12 miles) southwest of the village of Chilia Veche.
While helicopters were surveying the area looking for possible drone parts, Mr Mosteanu told private television station Antena 3 that “all information at this moment indicates the drone exited airspace to Ukraine”.
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Russia getting ‘ready for war with NATO’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that data showed the drone breached about 10km (six miles) into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace for around 50 minutes.
He said Belarusian airspace was also used for entry into Ukraine’s airspace.
Mr Zelenskyy described the reported incursion as “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia,” and called for “tariffs against Russian trade” and a “collective defence”.
He warned: “Do not wait for dozens of “shaheds” [Iranian-designed drones] and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions.”
NATO has said it plans to strengthen eastern flank defence, following earlier Polish airspace violations.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio called the Polish incursion “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous”, and said while it was unclear if the drones were intentionally sent to Poland, if it was the case, it would be “a highly escalatory move”.
Experts, including Sky News international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn have previously suggested the Kremlin is testing the West with gradual but steady escalation – a tactic known as “salami slicing”.
Donald Trump boarding Air Force One on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
On Saturday, Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he was “ready to do major sanctions on Russia”, but only when all NATO nations “do the same thing” and “stop buying oil from Russia”.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Moscow, so far without any action.
The president also said NATO members should also put 50% to 100% tariffs on China – and only withdraw them if the conflict ends.
NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil since 2023, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, with fellow members Hungary and Slovakia also buying energy supplies from Moscow.
The war in Ukraine would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia, Donald Trump has said.
The US president, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, said the alliance’s commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100%” and the purchase of Russian oil by some members is “shocking”.
Doing so “greatly weakens your negotiating position and bargaining power, over Russia,” he said.
NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil since 2023, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, with fellow members Hungary and Slovakia also buying energy supplies from Moscow.
A NATO ban on the practice plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR”, he added.
The president said NATO members should also put 50% to 100% tariffs on China – and only withdraw them if the conflict ends.
‘China’s grip’ on Russia
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” Mr Trump posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip”.
The US president has already placed a 25% import tax on goods from India over its buying of Russian energy products.
Mr Trump said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He did not include in that list Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion.
President Donald Trump at a New York Yankees baseball game on Thursday. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Village changes hands
On the battlefield on Saturday, Russian troops took control of the village of Novomykolaivka in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
A drone attack hit an oil refinery in the city of Ufa, around 870 miles (1,400km) from the border with Ukraine, the local governor said, calling it a terrorist incident.
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Drones shot down in Poland
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Friday the 32-nation alliance would place military equipment on the border with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to deter potential Russian aggression.
Operation ‘Eastern Sentry’ followed Wednesday’s provocative incursion by multiple Russian drones into the airspace of Poland, another NATO member.
Polish forces shot down the drones, which Moscow said went astray because they were jammed.
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Prince Harry’s surprise visit to Ukraine
Prince Harry’s surprise visit
The Duke of Sussex made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Friday, promising to do “everything possible” to help the recovery of injured military staff.
Travelling on an overnight train to Kyiv, Prince Harry, who has since left the country, told The Guardian: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We have to keep it [the war] in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
A barrage of airstrikes has killed at least 32 people in Gaza City as Israel continued intensifying its offensive there, medical staff have said.
The dead include 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
Health officials said one of the strikes killed a family of 10, including a mother and her three children.
The Palestinian Football Association said a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club, Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed with 14 members of his family.
Israel’s army did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes when contacted by the Associated Press news agency.
Israel has in recent days increased its strikes on Gaza City, having ordered residents to leave what it says is Hamas’s last stronghold.
Palestinians run for cover. Pic: AP
Hundreds of thousands of people are still in the city, struggling under conditions of famine, which was declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) three weeks ago. Israel previously denied there is a famine in Gaza.
Aid workers say the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, but many families remain stuck due to difficulties with transportation and housing.
Others have been displaced many times and do not want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the Strip is safe.
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Earlier this month: IDF drops evacuation flyers on Gaza before tower bombed
In a message shared on social media on Saturday, Israel’s army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to “leave immediately” and move south into what it is calling a humanitarian zone.
Sites in southern Gaza, where Israel is telling people to go, are overcrowded, the United Nations has said.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said more than 250,000 people have left Gaza City – but the UN puts the number at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September.
The UN and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
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The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours.
Israel has said it now controls 75% of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to fields of rubble. It has vowed to take the rest.
The current conflict followed Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, when militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 people hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
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