Hamas has released a video of a 19-year-old Israeli hostage amid a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In an undated recording, Liri Albag – one of five female soldiers kidnapped in Hamas’s October 7 attack – speaks under duress and shares her anguish at having been held for 450 days.

Speaking in Hebrew, she calls for the Israeli government to secure her release and says: “Today is the beginning of a new year; the whole world is celebrating. Only we are entering a dark year, a year of loneliness.”

Ms Albag – who has turned 19 while being held hostage – adds that a fellow, unnamed captive has been injured. “We are living in an extremely terrifying nightmare,” she says.

The teenager’s family said the video has “torn our hearts to pieces”.

“This is not the daughter and sister we know. Her severe psychological distress is evident,” they said in a statement shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The family has not given permission for the video of Ms Albag to be shared publicly but they have authorised the release of two photos.

Ms Albag’s loved ones are calling on the Israeli government and world leaders to use the current ceasefire talks to bring all remaining hostages back alive.

“It’s time to make decisions as if your own children were there,” they said.

The office for Israel‘s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he has spoken Ms Albag’s parents and told them efforts to bring hostages home are “ongoing, including at this very moment”.

“Anyone who dares to harm our hostages will bear full responsibility for their actions,” he said.

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Roughly 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and as of December last year, 96 remained in the group’s custody.

Israel’s subsequent military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,805 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

It said 88 people have been killed in the past 24 hours. At least 17 were killed in airstrikes on homes in Gaza City on Saturday.

Several children were among those who died, medics said.

Hamas’s video of Ms Albag, and Israel’s airstrikes, come amid a fresh push for an agreement to end the conflict in Gaza.

Israeli representatives arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Friday to resume indirect ceasefire talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

Hamas has said it is committed to reaching an agreement, but it is unclear how close the two sides are.

Joe Biden, whose US presidency comes to an end in just over a fortnight’s time, has urged Hamas to agree a deal – while president-elect Donald Trump has said there will “be hell to pay” in Gaza if the hostages are not released before his inauguration on 20 January.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has announced he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed for a second time.

His declaration on Saturday came after the People’s Party and the Social Democratic Party continued coalition talks, a day after the liberal NEOS party’s surprise withdrawal from discussions.

“Unfortunately I have to tell you today that the negotiations have ended and will not be continued by the People’s Party,” Mr Nehammer from the conservative People’s Party said.

He claimed “destructive forces” in the Social Democratic Party had “gained the upper hand” and that the People’s Party would not sign on to a programme that is reportedly against economic competitiveness.

Social Democratic Party leader Andreas Babler said he regretted the decision by the People’s Party to end the negotiations, adding: “This is not a good decision for our country.”

Mr Babler said that one of the main stumbling blocks had to do with how to repair the “record deficit” left by the previous government.

He added: “I have offered to Karl Nehammer and the People’s Party to continue negotiating and called on them not to get up.”

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The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between €18bn to €24bn, according to the EU Commission.

Austria has also been in a recession for the past two years, is experiencing rising unemployment and its budget deficit is currently at 3.7% of Gross Domestic Product – above the EU’s limit of 3%.

The talks have dragged on since Austria’s president, Alexander Van der Bellen, tasked the conservative chancellor in October with putting together a new government.

The request came after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which in September won a national election for the first time with 29.2% of the vote.

More than 6,000 prisoners have been released in Myanmar as part of an amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

The head of Myanmar’s military government has granted amnesties for 5,864 prisoners from the Southeast Asian country, as well as 180 foreigners who will now be deported, state-run media said.

The freed inmates included just a small proportion of hundreds of political detainees locked up for opposing army rule since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s military takeover in February 2021 was met with a huge nonviolent resistance, which has since developed into a widespread armed struggle.

The freeing of prisoners began on Saturday and in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, buses took detainees out of the Insein Prison. Many were met by loved ones who eagerly held up signs with their names.

If the freed inmates break the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their sentences alongside any new ones, the terms of release state.

In another report, MRTV television said government leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has also reduced the life sentences of 144 prisoners to 15 years.

All other inmates’ sentences have been reduced by one sixth, apart from those convicted under the Explosive Substances Act, the Unlawful Associations Act, the Arms Act and the Counterterrorism Law – all laws which are often used against opponents of military rule.

According to rights organisation the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 28,096 people have been arrested on political charges since the army takeover, and 21,499 of those remained in jail as of Friday.

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Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government, told journalists those released include about 600 people prosecuted under a law which makes it a crime to spread comments that create public unrest or fear, or spread false news.

There has been no suggestion the releases include that of Myanmar’s former leader Suu Kyi, who – now aged 79 – is serving a 27-year sentence after being prosecuted for a number of politically-tinged charges.

Most of the foreigners being freed are Thai people arrested for gambling in a border town, the spokesperson added.

It is not uncommon for Myanmar to mark holidays and significant occasions with prisoner releases.

The country became a British colony in the late 1800s and regained independence on 4 January 1948.