JERUSALEM – Hamas’s armed wing released a video during the weekend showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.
The pair were identified by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
The undated three-minute video footage released by Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.
The second hostage, Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives — a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.
In a statement, Bohbot’s family said that “Elkana and Yosef are crying out to be saved. While all the people of Israel hear their calls, a handful of decision-makers refuse to listen,” echoing criticism of the Israeli government for failing to bring back the hostages.
“How much more can we bear? How much more can they endure? The fact that they are still there is a disgrace,” the family said.
Late Saturday, Israeli demonstrators calling for the release of the hostages and an end of the war gathered outside the defence ministry headquarters in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
AFP images showed some protesters holding pictures of the hostages and placards that read “we can save the rest” and “all of them now.”
Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in footage from the day of the Hamas attack, and his family have expressed concern about his health.