Wife of freed hostage Elkana Bohbot thanks those who helped bring husband home, snubs PM

By Jessica Steinberg

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14 October 2025, 9:51 pm

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Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

From L-R: Miri Ben Ami, mother of freed hostage; Rivka Bohbot, wife of freed hostage Elkana Bohbot; Avi Ohana, the father of released hostage Yosef Chaim Ohana; Liran Berman, brother of freed hostages Gali and Ziv Berman; and Maccabit Meir, the Bermans' aunt, speaking at Sheba Hospital on October 14, 2025. (Credit: Oriel Even Sapir/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Rivka Bohbot, the wife of released hostage Elkana Bohbot, doesn’t mention the Israeli government as she thanks the Israeli nation, the Hostages Forum, the IDF and security forces, US President Donald Trump, envoy Steve Witkoff, and the US government for helping bring her husband home, during a brief statement at Sheba Hospital.

“Many good people helped us,” says Bohbot, adding that her husband saw images of the rallies and protests while in captivity. “He saw and he felt he wasn’t forgotten. You saved him, but also me and Re’em,” who is their three-year-old son.

“Yesterday was more emotional than our wedding day or even Re’em’s birth,” says Bohbot. “I saw them reborn. Elkana couldn’t stop hugging Re’em.”

Bohbot, a native of Colombia, says she won.

“My husband is here,” says Bohbot. “Despite the difficulties of language, the exhaustion, I didn’t give up on life and love, and that is a huge accomplishment. None of us can give up on hope for better days.”

She adds that the mission isn’t over, that the clock can’t be stopped in Hostages Square, and people can’t take off their yellow hostage pins until the last hostage is brought home.