Hamas releases video it says is of Israeli captive in Gaza

In the past, Israel has engaged in prisoner swaps with Hamas, most notably in 2011, when Gilad Shalit, a soldier abducted by militants in a cross-border raid in 2006, was released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas released a video on Tuesday purporting to show an Israeli citizen being held captive in the Gaza Strip, the first such images of the man since his capture seven years ago. The move appeared to be a Hamas bid to pressure Israel for a prisoner swap as Egyptian-mediated negotiations between the sides on such a deal have lagged.

The 39-second video showed a conscious man, lying in a bed with an oxygen mask on his face and ended with a close-up on what appeared to be an Israeli ID card bearing the name and photo of one of the civilian captives, Hisham al-Sayed. A TV screen beside him appears to show news images from an economic conference in Qatar this month.

Hamas did not provide precise details about the captive's condition after saying on Monday his health had deteriorated. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said releasing a video of a sick man was a "reprehensible and desperate" act and that Hamas was violating international conventions by holding a civilian who he said was suffering from a mental disorder.

Israel says Hamas is holding two Israeli civilians and the remains of two of its soldiers who were killed in a 2014 Israel-Gaza war. The civilians are believed to have crossed over into Gaza willingly for unknown reasons. In the past, Israel has engaged in prisoner swaps with Hamas, most notably in 2011, when Gilad Shalit, a soldier abducted by militants in a cross-border raid in 2006, was released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

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