Hamas on Wednesday released a video of two hostages, recorded before their deaths, whose bodies were among those recovered earlier this week by the Israeli military from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

The video released Wednesday included footage of Carmel Gat, 40, and Alexander Lobanov, 32. Hamas had released videos of two other hostages, on Monday and another on Tuesday. The release Wednesday ensures the fate of the captives remains in the public eye.

All four were among six slain hostages who, according to autopsy reports released by the Israeli Ministry of Health, were shot at close range sometime between last Thursday and Friday morning.

More than 60 hostages are believed to be alive after being taken captive Oct. 7, and the bodies of about 35 others, are still in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. The publication of the video comes as international negotiators are trying to bring Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, to an agreement that would result in a cease-fire.

The status of the hostages and the government’s decision to press on with the war has rived Israeli society. Many people say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pursued the war at the expense of the hostages; he says that pursuing the war is the way to free the hostages.

In the days since the six bodies were discovered, many Israelis have taken to the streets to protest the war. The protesters blame Netanyahu for failing to reach a cease-fire agreement that would return the hostages to Israel. The release of the videos by Hamas appears to be designed to inflame tensions inside Israel.

Rights groups and international law experts say that such hostage videos are, by definition, made under duress, that the statements in them are usually coerced, and that making them can constitute a war crime. Israeli officials have called the videos a form of “psychological warfare.”

It was unclear where or exactly when the video released Wednesday was filmed, and the footage appears to have been edited. The images of Gat, who turned 40 in captivity but gives her age as 39 in the video, and Lobanov were released on Hamas’ social media channels around 7 p.m. local time in Israel. The videos follow those of Eden Yerushalmi, 24, released Monday, and Ori Danino, 25, released Tuesday.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of the captives, responded in a statement around midnight in Israel on Wednesday, calling the video of Gat and Lobanov “horrific” and “yet another testament to Hamas’s ruthless cruelty.” Recalling the other two recently released clips — of Yerushalmi and Danino — the forum said that more videos could come soon.

“Hamas has not only murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians but continues to inflict psychological terror on the families of the hostages through these calculated releases of distressing footage,” the group said.

The United Nations Security Council held a meeting Wednesday on the topic of the hostages in Gaza, its first such session on the subject. Israel requested the session after the killing of the six hostages, not to seek specific action from the Council but to draw attention to the captives’ plight.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, called the session “overdue” and held up pictures of the hostages and shared stories about them. One was saving for a trip to India, he said, another was waiting for a baby and a third loved nature.

Danon said there was a disconnect between international calls for Israel to lay down its arms and end the war in Gaza and the events of Oct. 7 and the hostages held by Hamas. He spoke of those who remained captive, “their cries for mercy ignored by international indifference.”

Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, a physician at Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, addressed the Council virtually about the trauma of child hostages who have returned to Israel. Bron-Harlev said that in captivity, the children were not allowed to cry or laugh, hardly ate and were moved frequently. At the hospital, the children were afraid to look out the window or get out of bed. Over 30 children were taken captive on Oct. 7, with two still in Gaza.

The meeting’s focus did not remain on just the hostages. Many diplomats and senior U.N. officials also criticized Israel for excessive force in Gaza, for the suffering of Palestinians and for recent Israeli military operations in the West Bank. They called for an immediate cease-fire deal and for Hamas to release the hostages.

Amar Bendjama, the U.N. ambassador of Algeria, the only Arab member of the Council, said the lack of a deal was costing the lives of Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza. He blamed the Council for not being able to put in place its own cease-fire resolution adopted in June.

“For us, there can be no double standards in recognizing suffering or in grieving the loss of a loved one,” Bendjama said.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military said that the shaft leading to the tunnel in which the bodies of the six hostages were found was inside a children’s playground. The shaft, the military said, “was located next to stuffed animals and wall art of cartoon characters.” Images released by the Israeli military showed partly destroyed walls surrounding what appears to be a concrete tunnel shaft.

The walls are painted with figures, including one of Mickey Mouse, and a large red heart with the word “LOVE” in English written over it. A stuffed brown bear lies amid the rubble. Hamas tunnels have previously been discovered near civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. The Israeli military and some Palestinians accuse the group of embedding fighters and hiding weapons among the civilian population.

Israeli troops found the shaft leading to the tunnel in an area the military said was “surrounded by the enemy and extensively booby-trapped,” arguing that “this is a further example of how Hamas abuses civilian areas to hold hostages and carry out its terrorist activities.”

Gat lived in Tel Aviv but was staying at her parents’ house in Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border, when she was taken hostage Oct. 7. Her mother, Kinneret Gat, was killed in the attacks.

“Carmel was an occupational therapist, full of compassion and love, always finding ways to support and help others,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote in a post on social media Sunday.

In a separate statement, the forum noted that hostages who were released in a temporary truce in November described Gat “as their guardian angel,” who taught them meditation and yoga exercises “to survive captivity.”

Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a profile of Gat in January, in which her closest friends said they had been holding regular yoga classes in her honor in an area of Tel Aviv that has become known as “Hostage Square.”

Lobanov lived in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to the forum, and was working as a bar manager at the Nova music festival when the attack began. Witnesses said Lobanov helped evacuate people, the forum said. He was a married father of two; his second child was born while he was in captivity.

In a post on social media Wednesday, the forum recalled the six slain hostages as “young, beautiful and happy.” It added, “Six that will never dance again, nor will they ever hug, travel or love. Six who will forever live in our memory and may their memory be a blessing.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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