The Hamas on Thursday posted a photo of slain hostage Ofir Tzarfati, who was abducted during the Hamas massacre of October 7 and murdered by his captures in Gaza. The IDF extracted his body from Gaza in November.
Tzarfati's mother said on Thursday that she will not look at the photo of her son's body. She called for an immediate deal to release the remaining 115 Israelis held by Hamas, some dead and some still alive, while talks to reach a deal were underway in Doha.
Hamas said the hostage was murdered by his guard in violation of orders after he heard the news that his two children were killed in an Israeli strike.
"Your brutality is an imminent danger to your prisoners," Hamas military wing said in a post.
Hamas did not reveal when the murder occurred. The timing of Hamas' revelation could be an attempt to increase pressure on Israel ahead of cease-fire talks in Doha.
Hamas published a photo of a kidnapped corpse to torment the hostages' families and as part of the psychological warfare, it has been waging since the beginning of the war, the IDF spokesperson said. "This is a hostage who was murdered and his body was rescued in an IDF and Shin Bet operation in the end of November. The family was informed."
Hamas often uses psychological terror to maximize the pressure on Israel to accept its demands in the various cease-fire and hostage deals. This tactic is emphasized as Israel attends the summit in Doha, Qatar to try and finalize a hostage and cease-fire deal. For example, in May, Hamas published a short video of Nadav Popplewell's captivity. The 51-year-old hostage was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7. He is seen in the video suffering from a black eye and not long after the video was aired, Kibbutz Nirim announced his death in captivity.
This was the third time this month that Hamas published psychological terror videos of hostages who have been held captive since the massacre of October 7. At the end of April, a few days after revealing a sign of life from the kidnapped Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Hamas published a video of the kidnapped Keith Siegel and Omri Miran.