The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, broadcast a video message from captive Israeli soldier Baron Barslavsky to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Barslavsky pointed to the difficult conditions he is experiencing in captivity due to the stifling Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and the continuous bombardment, saying: "I have been held captive in Gaza for a year and a half. A year and a half of hell and endless pain that is renewed every day. A year and a half of food and drink shortages and severe illnesses. Every day I am in pain. I don't know what to do with my life. My health situation is very difficult and unimaginable, as is my physical condition."
The soldier continued, asking: "Where do you want to go? What will you do to us? What are your next steps? What will you do? Where will you go and what will happen tomorrow? Every day from the right and left, from above and below, bombs are falling that never stop and never end. The next bomb will fall on my head and my blood is on your neck, Mr. Prime Minister Netanyahu."
Addressing the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, he added: "I gave you my vote in the last elections. I gave you my vote not so you would leave me to die here in Gaza, the same Gaza Strip that you have never stopped bombing and closing without food or water. And we, the Israeli prisoners, are here, suffering daily. Why are you abandoning us? Why am I and the other prisoners left to die?"
Barslavsky spoke about the recent attempts to strike a deal and release the Israeli-American soldier Idan Alexander, saying: "You want to carry out a deal to release a prisoner, one American, Idan Alexander. Who is he? Is he the king of Israel? Is he better than me? No one is better than me. I am not a Category Z kidnapped person. I am a human being like you. Think about me, Netanyahu. You are there at home, wandering from one country to another. Think about me as if I were your son, your son who is in Gaza, a prisoner and suffering psychologically. I have no mother, no water, no food, and no treatment."
Addressing US President Donald Trump, he said: "I ask Trump. Where are you? Where are your promises? Didn't you say we would be liberated in a deal? You didn't even order a ceasefire! All of Gaza is destroyed. There's nothing worth mentioning here. Nothing at all remains! Why is this?! Why are you doing this to us? Don't I have a family? It sits at home, torn apart."
In the same vein, the Qassam Brigades broadcast a video on Tuesday, sending a message to the families of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, stating that Israeli army missiles are killing them and that they will return home in black coffins.
Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida announced that contact had been lost with the group capturing soldier Idan Alexander following a direct bombardment targeting their location. He confirmed that they were still trying to reach them.
He added, "We estimate that the occupation army is deliberately trying to relieve the pressure of the dual-citizen prisoners' file in order to continue its war of extermination against our people."
On April 4, the military spokesman for the Qassam Brigades warned that "half of the enemy's living prisoners are in areas the occupation army has requested to be evacuated in recent days."
He added at the time: "We decided not to transfer these prisoners from these areas, and to keep them under strict security measures that are extremely dangerous to their lives."
Abu Obeida stressed that "the Netanyahu government bears full responsibility for the lives of the prisoners. If it were concerned about them, it would have adhered to the agreement it signed in January. Most of them would probably be in their homes today."