Hamas releases new video of Israeli hostage, calls for rescue grow as war rages on

Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday featuring an Israeli hostage in Gaza pleading for his release, the second such footage shared by the militant group within days.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group identified the hostage as Elkana Bohbot, who was kidnapped from a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which led to the ongoing war.

The three-minute video shows Bohbot speaking in Hebrew, raising his hands in desperation as he urges the Israeli government to secure his freedom.

Earlier in the week, Bohbot appeared alongside another hostage, Yosef Haim Ohana, in a video released by the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing.

In that clip, the two men described the dangers they have faced since Israeli airstrikes on Gaza resumed on March 18, following more than two months of ceasefire.

In the latest footage, Bohbot warns that the ongoing bombardment could cost him his life and makes a desperate plea to be reunited with his wife and son.

Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in northern Gaza to demand an end to war, chanting “Hamas out,” social media posts showed, in a rare public show of opposition to the militant group that sparked the latest war with its October 7, 2023 raid on Israel.

Northern Gaza has been one of the most devastated areas of Gaza. Most buildings in the densely populated area have been reduced to rubble and much of the population has moved several times to escape the conflict.

Since Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza, Hamas has warned that the military operations could put the hostages in danger.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s renewed attacks followed weeks of deadlock in talks to extend the ceasefire that began on January 19.

With inputs from agencies