Beheaded Jewish journalist Sotloff was Israeli citizen

“Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”

Following Mr Sotloff’s appearance in last month’s video, his mother, Shirley Sotloff, a teacher at a Jewish school in Miami, released a video appeal addressed to the leader of Isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, begging for his release.

She said: “We have not seen Steven for more than a year and we miss him very much. We want to see him safe and sound and to hug him.”

The 31-year-old reporter, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, grew up in Miami and studied at the University of Central Florida.

He built his career around reporting in the Middle East and travelled to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Turkey and Syria. He spoke Arabic fluently.

Following the release of the latest video last night, a spokesperson for his family said they were “grieving privately”.