Israel-Palestine war: Hamas posts video of 21-year-old French woman taken hostage on Oct 7

Israel-Palestine war latest: Palestinian militant outfit Hamas on Monday night shared a video on its Telegram handle from one of the dozens taken hostage on October 7 during the outfit's assault in areas surrounding the Gaza border. The date on which the video was captured is not known yet. 

The video featured a 21-year-old French-Israeli citizen Maya Sham, who was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival in Kibbutz Re'im, where Hamas attackers killed over 260 festivalgoers as part of a carnage that has claimed the lives of around 1,300 people so far.

Sham's family found out that she had been taken hostage a few days ago, according to Israeli media reports. Following the video's release, her family said that they were "very happy", longest running Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

"I am Maya Sham, I'm 21 years old from Shoham," she said in the video. She further said that she is in Gaza right now and urged authorities to bring her home as soon as possible to her family, parents, and siblings. 

"I came back early on Saturday morning from a party in Sderot. I was seriously injured in the arm. They brought me to Gaza, and they took me to the hospital here. They've been taking care of me, providing medication. I'm just asking that you bring me back home as soon as possible to my family, my parents, my siblings. Please get me out of here as quickly as possible," she can be seen saying in the video.

Meanwhile, Israeli journalist Daniel Amram shared a TikTok video featuring the woman moments before she was captured by Hamas on X (formerly Twitter). While sharing the video, Amram called Hamas "monsters that took her away from her family". 

Sham's video came on Hamas' Telegram channel soon after Hamas military wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a statement that the militant outfit is holding around 200 Israeli captives and dozens of them have been held by different factions. Obeida also claimed that the captives are being treated with dignity, adding 22 of the captives were killed in airstrikes by Israeli air force in the Gaza Strip. 

After Hamas' statement, the Isreali Defence Forces (IDF) said that Sham's family had notified last week that she was captured in Gaza while adding it was in constant touch with the 21-year-old's family. Condeming Hamas as a "murderous terrorist organisation", the IDF said that it was using "all intelligence and operational measures" to ensure the return of captives. 

"In the video, Hamas is trying to portray itself as a humane organisation, while it is responsible for the murder and abduction of babies, women, children and elderly," the IDF said. 

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