In disturbing Hamas video, distraught hostage Elkana Bohbot shouts and begs for release
36-year-old captive insists he asked terror group to film clip, his 2nd video released this week: ‘I’m afraid every second of every day that I’ll die here!’
Hamas published on Saturday a second propaganda video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot, in which the captive is seen begging for his release, desperately pleading with the government to return him home from captivity in Gaza, where he has been held by the terror group for 540 days.
Hamas published the video only five days after releasing a clip showing Bohbot alongside another captive, Yosef-Haim Ohana, who is also still held by the terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.
Shortly after the video was published by the terror group, Bohbot’s family approved the publication of the video in Israeli media, which does not share propaganda videos of hostages without family permission.
In the three-minute-long video, Bohbot, appearing extremely distraught, begged for his release so that he could reunite with his wife and his son, and asserted throughout the video that he had asked his captors to make the video and was not pressured into it by Hamas.
The captive, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “I am the one who asked to do these videos. Hamas did not tell me to make these videos. This is not psychological warfare.”
“The real psychological warfare is what is going on inside my head, every morning when I wake up without my son and my wife,” he declared. “It’s screwing me up, it’s making me crazy!”
“Do you not understand? I want to get out of here!” Bohbot pleaded. “I miss my wife, my son. Everyone. My family, get me out of here!”
Addressing the Histadrut Labor Federation, where Bohbot is employed, he said: “I worked for 15 years. For 15 years under the Histadrut. I never asked for anything. Nothing,” he said, telling the federation to take action to “protect your workers.”
Bohbot also asked the government why it had not secured the release of all the hostages: “You got the female soldiers out. You got the elderly out, you got the young people out. You got everyone else out. What about us?”
Bohbot argued against the government’s assertion that only use of force will lead Hamas to free hostages.
“We are getting bombed every day. Every day, we are bombed for 24 hours a day. Do you not understand this? And they say that they’re going to get us out using force. No one can get us out using force, don’t you see? It will kill us, finish us. I’m afraid every second of every day that I’ll die here!”
Wiping tears away, he then begged to be able to celebrate his son’s fifth birthday, getting on his knees, pleading for his and his fellow hostages’ release.
“Please help us!” he cried. “Please!”
After approving the publication of the video, Bohbot’s family published a short statement saying, “We have nothing to add to what Elkana cried out for.”
Bohbot, 36, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251, sparking the war in Gaza.
He is among the 24 living hostages slated for release in the proposed second stage of the ceasefire deal agreed upon in January, which fell apart after its first stage, with Israel renewing the fighting in Gaza.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip still hold a total of 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
The January 19 ceasefire deal stipulated that negotiations would begin in early February for a second phase of the deal. The outline for the phase broadly envisions the release of all remaining living hostages in exchange for a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
But Prime Minister Netanyahu has refused to end the war until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled and has accordingly refused to enter talks on the second phase, instead pushing for an extension of the phase one temporary ceasefire. Hamas refused, and Israel renewed intensive military operations throughout Gaza on March 18.
Israel confirmed on Saturday night that it had received a new ceasefire hostage release proposal from mediating countries and said it had made a counteroffer. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu held a series of consultations Friday night to discuss the proposal. On Saturday afternoon, Jerusalem responded with its own counterproposal, the PMO said, adding that this was done “in full coordination with the US.”
The Israeli statement came after media reports on Saturday said Hamas had agreed to an Egyptian proposal to release five living hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire in Gaza. According to multiple media reports, this does not meet Jerusalem’s demands, with Israel insisting on the return of 10 or 11 living hostages to resume the truce, based on a previous proposal by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
The Times of Israel Community.