The families of several female Israeli soldiers taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on October 7 released a video of their abduction in an attempt to pressure the Israeli government to revive stalled ceasefire talks that could pave the way for the captives’ release.

Family members first saw the footage a few weeks ago via the Israeli military, which formally handed them a copy on Tuesday night, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents families of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip.

“I’m asking you, please show this clip every day; open your broadcasts with it,” Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri Albag can be seen in the video, said in a television interview with Israel’s Channel 12. “Until somebody wakes up, the nation wakes up, and realises that they’ve been abandoned there for 229 days.”

Some Israeli politicians immediately seized on the images to try to rebuff the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state. Israel Katz, the foreign minister, said he would screen the footage during a “severe reprimand” of the countries’ ambassadors.

In the three-minute edited collection of videos, which were verified by The New York Times, Palestinian fighters, some wearing Hamas headbands, can be seen binding the hands of five Israeli women who served as lookouts at Nahal Oz, a military base near the Gaza border. Two of the hostages’ faces are bloodied, and they appear to be wearing pyjamas. The militants repeatedly threaten the women.

One of the militants calls the women “dogs”, vowing to crush them. One of the women can be heard telling the militants that she had “a friend in Palestine”, even as another begs to know if any of them speak English.

In a statement, Hamas said that the scenes presented in the edited video “could not be confirmed”. The group also claimed that a translation provided by Israeli authorities was incorrect and included phrases “that were not said by any of the fighters who appeared in the video”.

Talks to secure the release of the more than 125 hostages still being held in Gaza have been at a standstill since Israel began its assault on the southern city of Rafah in early May. Israeli forces operating in northern Gaza retrieved the bodies of four Israelis abducted on October 7, heightening fears for the remaining captives.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the Israeli hostage soldiers in the video as Naama Levy, Agam Berger, Liri Albag, Karina Ariev and Daniela Gilboa, all ages 19 or 20. The footage was recorded by body cameras worn by the Hamas militants who abducted them, the organisation said.

Families of hostages met senior Israeli leaders on Wednesday, including Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, and Benny Gantz, a member of the country’s war cabinet, in an attempt to lobby for an immediate agreement with Hamas. “The video is a damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages, who have been forsaken for 229 days,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

New York Times News Service