Hamas released a video of two hostages, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel, being driven in Gaza City Friday as the Israeli military readies a major offensive there.
In the video, Gilboa-Dalal, 24, who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival, is seen in a car driving through several locations throughout Gaza City, saying that at least eight other hostages are located in the area.
“We have received a sign of life from our Guy after six months since the previous video in which he was seen with Evyatar David watching their friends being released,” the Gilboa-Dalal family said in a statement, referencing a February video in which Hamas brought him to view other hostages being released. “Guy, Alon and other hostages were transferred to Gaza, and we are deeply concerned for their lives. They must be brought home.”
Israel has said it does not know exactly where the hostages are being held and believes Hamas could try to move them out of the city amid a civilian evacuation — or bring more hostages into the city to blunt the offensive, which Israeli leaders say will “level” the city if Hamas does not surrender.
Toward the end of the propaganda clip, Ohel, 22, who was also kidnapped from the Nova festival, appears alongside Gilboa-Dalal who repeatedly says, “I can’t believe I’m seeing you.” The video marks the first footage of Ohel since his kidnapping. His family has had to rely on testimonies from released hostages for evidence of his survival.
There are now 48 remaining hostages held in Gaza, of which 20 are presumed to be alive. The video of Ohel and Gilboa-Dalal was released amid protests across Israel for a hostage deal on the 700th day of their captivity as the IDF prepares for its takeover of Gaza City. The army said on Friday that it already controlled half of the city, where nearly half of Gaza’s 2 million residents have been living, and that it would begin targeting high-rise buildings from which it said Hamas was basing its operations.
Video showed a large high-rise towering over a tent city collapsing after a strike on Friday, following what Israel said had been an evacuation order at a building used as a Hamas base.
Israel’s offensive in the city has been condemned by the families of the hostages, the Israeli military and much of the international community for endangering the lives of the hostages who are currently held captive there.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement Friday, responding to assessments from officers from the IDF’s Hostages and Missing Persons Unit on Thursday to the hostage families that the operation would risk harming their loved ones.
“We are deeply worried. This operation poses an immediate, direct threat to our loved ones, who have been languishing in Hamas tunnels for 700 days,” the forum said. “We are sorry to say, we have not heard of any way of protecting them.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
