French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday condemned Hamas for airing a video of a Franco-Israeli woman the Islamist militant group has taken hostage and demanded her unconditional release.
“It is an ignominy to take innocent people hostage and put them on show in this odious way,” the Elysee presidential palace quoted Macron as saying.
It said Macron was aware of the video of Franco-Israeli Mia Shem and called for her “immediate and unconditional release”.
France was “working with its partners to free French hostages held by Hamas”, it added.
French Foreign Minster Catherine Colonna held talks on Sunday with the families of people who had been killed or abducted, including Shem’s.
On Monday evening, Hamas aired a video on its official Telegram channel of “one of the prisoners in Gaza”, showing a young woman speaking Hebrew.
In the video, the first released by Hamas of a hostage purportedly speaking from captivity, the woman says she is being held in Gaza, is being well treated and appeals for her release.
The caption to the video said she had been abducted on October 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, triggering a war that has killed thousands of people in both Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip, which Israel is bombing in retalitation.
The Israeli army has confirmed at least 199 hostages were taken to Gaza. Hamas had claimed around 250 captives are being held.