The family of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot made an emotional plea to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump after Hamas released a new propaganda video featuring him and another captive begging for their lives.
“Please, imagine this is your son, the father of your grandchild, waiting to see daylight, hearing IDF (Israel Defense Forces) bombs, and living in constant fear for his life,” the family said in a statement.
Hamas released an undated video showing Bohbot and another hostage, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, on Monday, as Israel continued its new offensive against the militant group.
The two men have been held captive in Gaza for more than 17 months and are almost certainly speaking under duress. The video appears to have been made after the collapse last week of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which they reference in the footage.
Both men were kidnapped from the Supernova music festival during the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack. Bohbot was 34 at the time and Ohana was 23. While both have been listed among the 24 hostages who are believed to be alive in Gaza, the video was the first proof of life their families have received since their abduction.
The families of both hostages authorized the publication of the video.
The edited footage shows the two men sitting on a floor in a dark room, wearing plain prison-style clothes. They are barefoot and unshaven, and their hair is cropped short.
Bohbot’s family said he appeared to be in “poor condition, having lost a significant amount of weight due to persistent starvation.”
“He suffers from skin and breathing problems in addition to being asthmatic, and has not seen daylight for almost a year and a half,” the family said.
In the video, the two men speak about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that started in late January, saying it allowed for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza, and made life there more bearable. They then criticize Israel for ending the ceasefire and launching a new wave of airstrikes, saying that they were nearly killed in an attack on March 18.
The video concludes with the two men making an emotional plea to a former fellow hostage Ohad Ben Ami, asking him to “speak up for” them and tell everyone about the suffering they are forced to endure.
Ben Ami, who confirmed he was held alongside Bohbot and Ohana, said in a statement Monday that he would “do everything in order to influence the decision-makers in Israel to return the kidnapped … even if it involves an immediate cease from fighting.”
“I have now seen the video of Elkana and Yosef, my dear friends left behind captive by Hamas, I love and miss you,” he said, adding that the hostages “are indeed fearing for their lives, they are hopeless and at these moments they are really making the conditions of the hostages very difficult for them.”
He said Hamas “reduce the amount of food” given to the hostages once the fighting starts.
As a man over the age of 50, Ben Ami was released in early February under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
The Israeli military resumed air and ground operations in Gaza last week, blaming Hamas for refusing to agree to revised terms on extending the ceasefire. Egypt and Qatar have been trying to revive the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in recent days.
