In hostage video, Elkana Bohbot holds mock phone call with family, urging them to keep working for his release

Shortly after the video was published by the terror group, Elkana Bohbot’s family approves its publication in Israeli media, which does not share propaganda videos of hostages without family permission.

In the video, a distraught and gaunt-looking Bohbot addresses his family in a mock phone call — evidently on his captors’ orders — and tells his wife and son that he dreams about returning home to them.

He urges them not to stop working for his release from Hamas captivity. “Keep doing everything for me!” he cries, saying he has “appealed to the state, appealed to the government, appealed to everyone.”

“I have appealed to the IDF, also. I have heard that they are signing petitions to stop the war and release us,” he says, referring to the recent wave of petitions signed by IDF reservists and veterans calling for a hostage deal and an end to the war.

“That’s good, keep going,” he said, “they care more about their citizens than the government.”

Hamas hostage Elkana Bohbot, held captive in Gaza, appears in a video published by Hamas, April 19, 2025.

Bohbot asks his brother Uriel to go to the White House and ask President Donald Trump to urgently get him out. His health is not good, and he’s afraid that he will die, he says.