‘Starving’: Hamas releases video of two hostages

In the three minute video, Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana say their already gruelling conditions have worsened since the end of the ceasefire and Israel’s resumption of airstrikes in Gaza.

Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana appear pale and exhausted in the Hamas video. Picture: X.

Hamas has released a video showing two Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the Palestinian militants’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The roughly three-minute video, whose exact recording date could not be verified, shows the two men sitting on the floor speaking in Hebrew to the camera, addressing a hostage who has already been freed and asking him to recount his gruelling experiences in captivity in order to speed up their release.

They say their conditions have worsened since the end of the ceasefire and Israel’s resumption of airstrikes in Gaza.

The two men have been identified as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, both abducted from the Nova music festival.

אות חיים מהשבי: משפחותיהם של אלקנה בוחבוט ויוסף חיים אוחנה אישרו את שידור הסרטוןhttps://t.co/S4VrVMq5LN@maya_aidanpic.twitter.com/s3XUFyjx0L

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) March 24, 2025

Mr Bohbot’s family reacted to the video with a statement appealing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to secure the hostages’ release.

“Imagine this is your son, the father of your grandchild, waiting to see daylight, hearing (Israeli army) bombs, and living in constant fear for his life,” the statement said.

“The video is a sign of life, but we want Elkana alive at home and the return of everyone,” it added.

Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana before they were taken hostage. Picture: X.

The family said they can see “in the video that he is in bad shape, that he has lost a lot of weight from continued starvation, that he is suffering from problems with his skin and his breathing,” noting that he suffers from asthma and “hasn’t seen the light of day for almost a year and a half!”

In the footage, the two men talk about the danger they have faced since the resumption of Israeli air strikes on Gaza last week.

In addition to reprising its intense bombardment of Gaza, Israel has also resumed ground operations.

The renewed attacks came after weeks of disagreement with Hamas over how to extend a ceasefire that took effect on January 19.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.