Family releases video of Gazan mob kicking, abusing dead body of hostage Eitan Levy
Family says it chose to release the footage to show ‘there are no innocent civilians in Gaza,’ calls on government to do more to bring home the captives
The family of Eitan Levy, who was apparently killed on October 7 and his body taken hostage to Gaza, on Saturday released graphic footage of Gazans abusing his dead body.
The video, published on Instagram, shows his body dangling out of a half-open trunk of a car, being driven through the streets of Gaza, while a crowd cheers and excitedly runs after the car.
The scene then cuts to Levy lying on the ground clad in only his underwear as a crowd takes turns coming to kick and stamp on the body amid chants and whistles.
In the post, the family writes that they decided to publish the video to show that there are “no innocents in Gaza.”
“With great pain and hesitation to reveal the trauma we have suffered, we have decided to share the film of the kidnapping and the lynch that was done to Eitan, the family,” wrote.
“This is proof that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. Forty-three weeks we’ve lived in indescribable suffering. One hundred and fifteen hostages are left behind. This is the time to bring them all home,” the family said.
Graphic content warning⚠️⚠️⚠️
This is a shocking video from October 7 of the kidnapping of Eitan Levy, who was murdered and kidnapped to Gaza where his body was brutally lynched in the plaza of a mosque!
These are the "innocent civilians of Gaza!” 43 weeks have passed but we… pic.twitter.com/oTBR1yeBD8— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) August 3, 2024
In December, the Bat Yam municipality, where Levy lived, announced that he was dead. He was previously considered a hostage in Gaza.
Until now, it has not been clear how and when Levy was murdered.
The 53-year-old was a taxi driver, ferrying a client from central Israel to Kibbutz Be’eri on the Gaza border when the Hamas attack began. That morning, Eitan spoke to his son around 7 a.m., telling him that he was dropping off his passenger.
Around 15 minutes later, he called his son again to let him know about the intense rocket fire from Gaza. He then ran into a Hamas ambush. With his father still on the phone, son Shahar said he heard voices arguing, and Arabic being spoken in the background.
He later found out that his father was told to sit, and asked to identify himself. About an hour later, the phone was still open and Shahar heard only Arabic being spoken, and then the phone was disconnected.
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 24 hostages have also been recovered, including three abductees mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 331.
