Hostage mother urges IDF to take care as it moves into Gaza areas where captives are thought to be

Hostage mother Ruhama Bohbot, whose son Elkana Bohbot is held captive by Hamas in Gaza, speaks  at a gathering of Shift 101, a mostly silent sit-in that gathers several times a week outside government institutions, this time in Mevasseret Zion outside Jerusalem.

“I’m a little tense. The IDF have begun operating in Gaza in the place where Elkana is being held, and I’m a little worried and suspicious like the other families,” says Bohbot. “I don’t have any idea why they started doing this now, now, when there’s supposed to be a deal.”

“I hope that the army will know what to do and how to do it,” she says. “And God forbid not touch the hostages. The government said it wouldn’t be the worst thing if some hostages were harmed, an unbelievably terrible thing to say.

She appears to be referring to comments earlier from National Missions and Settlements Minister Orit Strock who called for the IDF to expand its operations in Gaza to encompass the entire Strip, including areas where hostages are known to be held, even though doing so would likely endanger them further.

Bohbot continues, talking about her recent mission to Washington, DC, when she met with ambassadors, senators, and other officials, all of whom listened to her, cried with her, and felt her pain.

“And despite that, I come home to Israel and hear the rumors that the government that represents me, that is supposed to represent me, that is supposed to fight for me and Elkana and it’s not happening,” she says at the Shift 101 gathering, a mostly silent sit-in that gathers several times a week outside government institutions.