Hostage Yosef-Chaim Ohana claims Elkana Bohbot self-harmed in Hamas video

Hamas published a propaganda video on its Telegram channel Saturday evening, giving a sign of life to two hostages.

The two hostages in the video are Elkana Bohbot, 35, and Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 24.

Hamas previously published a video of the two in late March.

The two were kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023.

In the last video published of them, they looked pale and were sitting on the floor.

During the propaganda video, Bohbot appears too sick to function, with Ohana claiming that Bohbot has been self-harming.

Ohana states that he, along with a Hamas terrorist, intervened a few days ago in order to stop Bohbot from harming himself again.

“We have lost our world and our hope,” Bohbot appears to say.

Ohana also appears to reference Sara Netanyahu’s statement that fewer than 24 hostages remain alive, stating “It seems she knows what you don’t.”

Ohana also states that Bohbot appears unwilling to eat or drink, adding, “We have little food in this terrible reality.”

“I have also stopped eating, as the fate of my colleague (Bohbot) is also my fate,” Ohana added.

“Our fate is in your hands,” Ohana says in a message to Israeli authorities, before adding that “your hands are stained with blood, you who are making decisions.”

“It’s time to stop this war. Time is running out,” he appears to conclude.

Hamas, at the end of the video, put up two sentences in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The first read “Only a Ceasefire Agreement Brings Them Back Alive,” and the second “Time is Running Out.”

In response, Elkana Bohbot’s family stated: “How much more can we bear? How much more can they bear? The fact that they are still there – it’s a disgrace. Elkana and Yosef are crying out to be rescued.”

“While all of Israel hears their pleas, a handful of decision-makers refuse to listen. We call on them – find the courage and bring them and all the hostages home,” their statement continued.

Who is Elkana Bohbot?

It was revealed in February that Bohbot, who has asthma, is being held in inhumane conditions in the Gaza tunnels, Channel 12 reported, citing testimony from a released hostage who was held with him.

During his time in captivity, Bohbot developed a severe skin disease caused by the dismal conditions in which he is being held.

“Of course, he did not receive proper medical treatment,” the released hostage was cited as saying by the news outlet.

Bohbot was held along with five other hostages in a narrow, 30-meter-deep tunnel. They could barely stand or walk due to a lack of space and slept on a damp sheet full of mold.

Who is Yosef-Chaim Ohana?

Ohana, from Kiryat Malachi, attended the music festival after his friend Daniel Sharabi invited him and a few other people to celebrate Ohana’s going-away party before his trip to the US for a pilot’s course.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post in New York, Sharabi said he had wanted to go to the festival in the morning, but Ohana wanted to go at night, so they went at night.

At 6:30 a.m., the music stopped at the festival as the air raid sirens sounded, he said. When they started to leave, they saw a girl having a panic attack. Since they had both served together as medics in the Givati Brigade, they stopped to help her. Two of their friends ran to their car and started packing up, he said.

Ohana and Sharabi helped anyone they saw who was wounded by gunfire and took them to paramedics to get proper treatment, Ohana’s mother told Ynet. “They tried to run toward the main road, but then they saw that they were being fired at by RPGs,” she said. “Yosef-Chaim ran to the left, and his friend ran to the right and hid under a car.”

Sharabi said: “I saw him stand up behind a car. He popped up and went down. He was shot by an RPG. “The next time Sharabi saw Ohana was in a video Hamas posted. It showed the terrorists kidnapping him and bringing him to Gaza.

JPost