The Hamas terrorist group released video footage on Monday showing signs of life of Israeli hostages Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana, 535 days after they were taken captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
JNS has decided not to publish the propaganda video on its website.
Bohbot, 35, an Israeli-Colombian dual national from Mevaseret Zion near Jerusalem, and Ohana, 24, from Kiryat Malachi in southern Israel, were taken to Gaza as hostages by Hamas terrorists during their cross-border onslaught on the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7, 2023.
Bohbot was last seen in video footage of the terror attacks, in which he lay crumpled on a floor with his face bloodied and eyes wide with fear.
“Everything that concerns propaganda and that concerns using hostages as psychological warfare, Hamas has the upper hand,” United Torah Judaism lawmaker Moshe Roth told JNS on Tuesday. “It’s painful for the families and for everybody to see and hear the voices of hostages but on the other hand at the end of the day, it also confirms the need for fighting.”
“The talks have reached a limit,” Roth said. “Israel has done everything to negotiate but it didn’t pan out. Hamas is not interested in solving the issue. As long as there are hostages in Gaza, as long as they show that they are hurting us, it’s an advantage and a winning situation for them.
“Hamas is creating tremendous suffering for its own people without any regard for life, the world has to recognize this. Palestinians dying doesn’t mean anything to them as long as they know they are hurting us, and that is the object of sending out these videos.”
He added: “The only option on the table is to force Hamas to release the hostages and we hope it succeeds.”
Bohbot’s nephew, Menashe Harush, told JNS last April that he had been living and sleeping in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square since Oct. 8, 2023, to raise awareness for his plight at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.
“The video shows he is in poor condition, having lost a significant amount of weight due to persistent starvation,” his relatives said in a response published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Monday. “He suffers from skin and breathing problems in addition to being asthmatic, and has not seen daylight for almost a year and a half!
“This video is further proof that Elkana must return home to his family, to his wife Rivka and his son Ra’am David. Elkana is crying out for help, begging us not to forget him in the tunnel hell,” added the family.
Ohana was kidnapped from the festival as he and a friend attempted to provide aid to wounded fellow partygoers amid Hamas’s massacre. Last month, his family told Hebrew media they received a “clear indication” that their loved one was still alive after more than 500 days in captivity.
His family did not immediately issue a response to the propaganda clip.
Fifty-nine abductees remain captive in Gaza, according to official Israel Defense Forces figures. At least 35 of them are believed to have died.
On Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas releases the captives still being held in the enclave.
“If the Hamas terror group continues to refuse to release the captives, I instructed the IDF to capture additional areas, evacuate the population and expand the security zone around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities through a permanent hold of the area,” Katz declared.
The Jewish state’s defense minister also said that the IDF will “intensify” its military campaign in Gaza “through the expansion of the ground maneuver until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated.”
