The family of an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas has released new footage of the moment he was pulled from his tank and captured by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attacks.

The video shows the soldier, Matan Angrest, surrounded by a dozen men atop the turret of an Israeli tank. The men, whose faces are blurred in the video, then lower Angrest, head first, off the tank into the arms of Palestinian militants, who barely catch him.

It is unclear whether Angrest is conscious in the video. His body is limp and tumbles forward as he is tossed off the side of the tank.

One man can be seen kicking Angrest before he is thrown off the tank. Another man below appears to slap Angrest as he falls to the floor.

In an interview, Angrest’s mother said she decided to publish the video because she fears that her son has been “left behind” and wants the public to know that he is in a critical situation.

“I don’t feel the commitment of the government for Matan as an Israeli soldier like I felt the commitment of Trump to American citizens – a big gap,” Anat Angrest said. “If the government wants soldiers to still serve her, she has to worry about the soldiers and to bring them home like the other citizens.”

While her husband saw the video months ago, she only watched it for the first time on Sunday night.

“For me as a mother, it’s the hardest thing to watch – to know about my son. Every mother knows that her kid from the first cry of a baby, we are worried about our children,” Anat Angrest said. “It’s the hardest situation for me as a mother.”

This is the latest attempt by Angrest’s family to sound the alarm about his deteriorating medical condition in captivity. They say he is suffering from chronic asthma, has untreated burns and has suffered infections during his captivity, according to the testimony of hostages who were held with Angrest.

The video released Monday appears to have been recovered by the Israeli military from the belongings of Palestinian militants, according to the watermark on the video.

Angrest said her family did not release the video for months at the urging of the Israeli military, but said she now feels she has no choice as the Israeli government pushes for yet another partial deal that would see about half the remaining hostages released.

“We were quiet about it for a year and a half, but we understood that our quiet is very comfortable to leave Matan behind,” she said.

Angrest is one of 55 hostages still held by Hamas and one of 20 still believed to be alive, according to the Israeli government.

As a male Israeli soldier, Angrest is believed to be at the bottom of the list of hostages to be released – considered a high-value hostage by Hamas and one for whom the Israeli government will likely have to pay a steep price. Anat Angrest believes her son’s concerning medical condition should be taken into account and, like many of the hostage families, called for the release of all the hostages and an end of the war.

Ceasefire and hostage deal negotiations between Israel and Hamas have sputtered along in recent weeks, yielding no agreement. A framework proposed by the US would see about half the living and deceased hostages released in exchange for a 60-day temporary ceasefire. Hamas has insisted on stronger guarantees from the US that negotiations to end the war will continue – and the fighting will not resume – after that temporary ceasefire expires.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A new prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia has begun, officials in both countries said Monday, with Ukrainian soldiers who have spent nearly the entire duration of the war in captivity among those returning home.

The exchange, agreed last week during talks in Turkey, involves detained people under the age of 25, as well as those who are seriously wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Telegram.

It follows a dispute at the weekend during which Moscow accused Ukraine of holding up the exchange — a claim that Kyiv denied.

“Our people are home,” Zelensky wrote. “Ukrainians are returning home from Russian captivity. The exchange began today and will continue in several stages over the next few days.”

Among those being released are Ukrainian soldiers who defended the city of Mariupol, which suffered a brutal Russian assault in the first few weeks of the war, the Ukraine Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.

The vast majority of those being released have been in captivity since 2022, according to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense also confirmed that the exchange is underway. “The Russian servicemen are currently in the Republic of Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance,” the ministry said.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation for peace talks with Ukraine, said last week that the exchange would be the largest since the start of the three-year war. He said Russia would transfer the bodies of more than 6,000 killed Ukrainian troops, plus an unspecified number of wounded servicemen.

Monday’s news comes after a weekend of accusations being hurled between both Moscow and Kyiv in relation to the exchange.

Russia accused Ukraine of unexpectedly postponing the transfer of dead Ukrainian soldiers’ bodies, leaving hundreds of body bags inside refrigerated trucks waiting at an exchange point it said Kyiv had agreed to.

Ukrainian officials rejected Russia’s account of events, saying that the two sides had agreed to exchange seriously wounded and young troops on Saturday, but a date had not yet been set for the repatriation of soldiers’ remains.

The prisoner swap was a result of a second set of direct peace negotiations that took place last Monday in Istanbul. Though the exchange was agreed upon, there were no major breakthroughs, with talks lasting a little over an hour.

As the prisoner exchange will last multiple days, and is “quite complex,” negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will “continue virtually every day,” Zelensky said Monday.

“We count on the full implementation of the humanitarian agreements reached during the meeting in Istanbul. We are doing everything possible to bring back every single person. We are working toward this at every level,” he added.

China said that by the end of this year all tertiary level hospitals must offer epidural anesthesia during childbirth, a move it said would help promote a “friendly childbearing environment” for women.

Tertiary hospitals – those with more than 500 beds – must provide epidural anesthesia services by 2025 while secondary hospitals – those containing more than 100 beds – must provide the services by 2027, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement last week.

Authorities are struggling to boost birth rates in the world’s second largest economy after China’s population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024 with experts warning the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

Around 30% of pregnant women in China receive anesthesia to relieve pain during childbirth, compared with more than 70% in some developed countries, the official China Daily said.

The World Health Organization recommends epidurals for healthy pregnant women requesting pain relief and it is widely utilized in many countries around the world, including France, where around 82% of pregnant women opt to have one, and in the United States and Canada where more than 67% do.

The move will “improve the comfort level and security of medical services” and “further enhance people’s sense of happiness and promote a friendly childbearing environment,” the NHC said.

A growing number of provinces across China are also beginning to include childbirth anesthesia costs as part of their medical insurance schemes to encourage more women to have children.

High childcare costs as well as job uncertainty and a slowing economy have discouraged many young Chinese from getting married and starting a family.

In June, health authorities in China’s southwestern Sichuan province proposed to extend marriage leave up to 25 days and maternity leave up to 150 days, to help create a “fertility-friendly society.”

Canada will meet NATO’s military spending guideline by early next year and diversify defense spending away from the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday, asserting that Washington no longer plays a predominant role on the world stage.

The announcement means Canada will achieve NATO’s spending target of 2% of gross domestic product five years earlier than previously planned.

“Our military infrastructure and equipment have aged, hindering our military preparedness,” Carney said. “Only one of our four submarines is seaworthy. Less than half of our maritime fleet and land vehicles are operational. More broadly, we are too reliant on the United States.”

According to NATO figures, Canada was estimated to be spending 1.45% of GDP on its military budget, below the 2% target that NATO countries have set for themselves. Canada previously said it was on track to meet NATO’s target by the end of the decade.

“Our goal is to protect Canadians, not to satisfy NATO accountants,” Carney said in a speech at the University of Toronto.

Canada is about to host US President Donald Trump and other leaders at a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Alberta on June 15-17, and before the NATO summit in Europe. NATO allies are poised to increase the commitment well beyond the 2% target.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that most US allies at NATO endorse Trump’s demand that they invest 5% of gross domestic product on their defense needs and are ready to ramp up security spending even more.

“We are meeting 2%. And that is the NATO target as it is today,” Carney said at a later news conference. “We will need to spend more.” He said there will be discussions on the increased spending amount and its timeline at the NATO summit.

Carney has said he intends to diversify Canada’s procurement and enhance the country’s relationship with the EU.

“We should no longer send three-quarters of our defense capital spending to America,” Carney said in a speech at the University of Toronto. “We will invest in new submarines, aircraft, ships, armed vehicles and artillery, as well as new radar, drones and sensors to monitor the seafloor and the Arctic.”

Canada has been in discussions with the European Union to join an EU drive to break its security dependency on the United States, with a focus on buying more defense equipment, including fighter jets, in Europe. Carney’s government is reviewing the purchase of U.S. F-35 fighter jets to see if there are other options.

“We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans throughout the Cold War and in the decades that followed, as the United States played a predominant role on the world stage. Today, that predominance is a thing of the past,” Carney said in French, one of Canada’s official languages.

He added that with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the United States became the global hegemon, noting that its strong gravitational pull became virtually irresistible and made the US “our closest ally and dominant trading partner.”

“Now the United States is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contributions to our collective security,” Carney said.

Trump’s calls to make Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, and Carney won the job of prime minister after promising to confront the increased aggression shown by Trump.

The prime minister said “a new imperialism threatens.”

Carney said the long-held view that Canada’s geographic location will protect Canadians is increasingly archaic. The government is adding $9 billion Canadian (US$6.6 billion) in spending this year and Carney said the Canadian Coast Guard will be now be a part of the military.

European allies and Canada have already been investing heavily in their armed forces, as well as on weapons and ammunition, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.