Hamas released on Saturday footage of Gaza hostage Elkana Bohbot amid reports of a potential Eid ceasefire-hostage deal.
In the video, Bohbot identifies himself as “Prisoner 22” and insisted that he asked Hamas to make the video – a claim that cannot be verified.
“This is not psychological warfare,” he claimed, speaking on Hamas’s release of hostage videos. “The real psychological war is me wake up without seeing my son, without my wife – this makes my health not well.
“Do you not understand? I want to get out of here. I do not have food… I am suffocating. I want to get out of here. Please help me.”
Speaking to his workers committee, he stressed that in his 15 years of work, he had never asked for anything but he was now begging for help.
“Do you not know how to defend me?” he asked. “Get me out. You made a deal and got out the female recruits. You got out the elderly prisoners. You got out everyone. What about us?”
“Why is my wife alone? Why can’t my son say ‘abba’ (dad),” he demanded in tears. “What do we tell the 5-year-old? He will celebrate his birthday in a couple of days.”
“Demonstrate for me,” he requested. “Make my voice heard. Deliver my screams.”
He shared that he could hear daily explosions, and his captors told him the IDF was trying to rescue them “by force” – something that he stressed wouldn’t work.
“They will only kill us, and this will be the end,” he stressed. “You do not comprehend that. I am afraid to die here.”
The video concludes with Hamas insisting, “Only a ceasefire agreement brings them back alive. Time is running out…”
About Elkana Bohbot
Bohbot was abducted from the Supernova music festival on October 7, where he was working in production. He last saw Rivka and his 3-year-old son, Ram, on October 6. He is a dual citizen of both Colombia and Israel.
Bohbot had the opportunity to flee but elected to stay at the festival to attempt to rescue attendees and the wounded, Ynet reported.
Concerns have been raised for his welfare as the 35-year-old suffers from the respiratory condition asthma, and recent footage shows him captive within one of Hamas’s underground terror tunnels.
A released hostage held alongside Bohbot told N12 that he had not received medicine for his conditions and has been forced to sleep on a damp, moldy mattress in a cramped space without room to walk. He was also said to have developed a skin condition during his time in a 30ft deep tunnel, although the nature of the condition was not disclosed.
The released hostage said he told his captors to release Bohbot, who has a four-year-old son, instead of him. However, the terrorists refused.
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami, who told N12 on Friday that he was held alongside Bohbot, shared that the hostages had been subjected to starvation.
“Most of our time was spent trying to guess what we would get to eat when it would happen, whether we would get a whole pita for each person or just half, whether there would also be a cup of rice, whether we got leftovers from our captors,” Ben Ami recounted.
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