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.”
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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
Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
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Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
World
‘The future is in our hands’ scientists say, as 2024 becomes first year to pass 1.5C global warming threshold
Last year was the warmest on record, the first to breach a symbolic threshold, and brought with it deadly impacts like flooding and drought, scientists have said.
Two new datasets found 2024 was the first calendar year when average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale.
The record heat has not only has real-world implications, as it contributed to deadly flooding in Spain and vicious drought in places like Zambia in southern Africa.
It is also highly symbolic.
Countries agreed in the landmark Paris Agreement to limit warming ideally to 1.5C, because after that the impacts would be much more dangerous.
The news arrives as California battles “hell on earth” wildfires, suspected to have been exacerbated by climate change.
And it comes as experts warn support for the Paris goals is “more fragile than ever” – with Donald Trump and the Argentinian president poised to row back on climate action.
What caused 2024 record heat – and is it here to stay?
Friends of the Earth called today’s findings from both the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change service and the Met Office “deeply disturbing”.
The “primary driver” of heat in the last two years was climate change from human activity, but the temporary El Nino weather phenomenon also contributed, they said.
The breach in 2024 does not mean the world has forever passed 1.5C of warming – as that would only be declared after several years of doing so, and warming may slightly ease this year as El Nino has faded.
But the world is “teetering on the edge” of doing so, Copernicus said.
Prof Piers Forster, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, called it a “foretaste of life at 1.5C”.
Dr Gabriel Pollen, Zambia’s national coordinator for disasters, said “no area of life and the economy is untouched” by the country’s worst drought in more than 100 years.
Six million people face starvation, critical hydropower has plummeted, blackouts are frequent, industry is “decimated”, and growth has halved, he said.
Paris goal ‘not obsolete’
Scientists were at pains to point out it is not too late to curb worse climate change, urging leaders to maintain and step up climate action.
Professor Forster said temporarily breaching 1.5C “does not mean the goal is obsolete”, but that we should “double down” on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and on adapting to a hotter world.
The Met Office said “every fraction of a degree” still makes a difference to the severity of extreme weather.
The California fires were whipped up by strong, dry winds and likely worsened by climate change. Pic: Reuters
Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo added: “The future is in our hands: swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate”.
Climate action is ‘economic opportunity’
Copernicus found that global temperatures in 2024 averaged 15.10°C, the hottest in records going back to 1850, making it 1.60°C above the pre-industrial level during 1850-1900.
The Met Office’s data found 2024 was 1.53C above pre-industrial levels.
The figures are global averages, which smooth out extremes from around the world into one number. That is why it still might have felt cold in some parts of the world last year.
Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans said as “the world’s most powerful climate denier” Donald Trump returns to the White House, others must “take up the mantle of global climate leadership”.
The UK’s climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the UK has been working with other countries to cut global emissions, as well as greening the economy at home.
“Not only is this crucial for our planet, it is the economic opportunity of the 21st century… tackling the climate crisis while creating new jobs, delivering energy security and attracting new investment into the UK.”
World
Picture shows baby girl moments after birth on packed migrant dinghy heading for Canary Islands
Photographs have captured the moments after a baby girl was born on a packed migrant dinghy heading for the Canary Islands.
The small boat was carrying 60 people and had embarked from Tan-Tan – a Moroccan province 135 nautical miles (250km) away.
One image shows the baby lying on her mother’s lap as other passengers help the pair.
The boat’s passengers – a total of 60 people, including 14 women and four children – were rescued by a Spanish coastguard ship.
Coastguard captain Domingo Trujillo said: “The baby was crying, which indicated to us that it was alive and there were no problems, and we asked the woman’s permission to undress her and clean her.
“The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of her fellow passengers. The only thing we did was to check the child, give her to her mother and wrap them up for the trip.”
Coastguards rescued all 60 people aboard the boat. Pic: Salvmento Maritimo/Reuters
The mother and baby were taken for medical checks and treated with antibiotics, medical authorities said.
Dr Maria Sabalich, an emergency coordinator of the Molina Orosa University Hospital in Lanzarote, said: “They are still in the hospital, but they are doing well.”
When they are discharged from hospital, the pair will be moved to a humanitarian centre for migrants, a government official said.
They will then most likely be relocated to a reception centre for mothers and children on another of the Canary Islands, they added.
Thousands of migrants board boats attempting to make the perilous journey from the African coast to the Spanish Canaries each year.
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In 2024, a total of 9,757 people died on the route, according to Spanish migration charity Walking Borders.
Mr Trujillo said: “Almost every night we leave at dawn and arrive back late.
“This case is very positive, because it was with a newborn, but in all the services we do, even if we are tired, we know we are helping people in distress.”
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