That’s not my husband’s face’: Hostage’s wife reacts to cruel Hamas video

Hamas has been releasing a hostage video every week. This is the third time they published footage of Elkana Bohbot.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Saturday, Hamas released a third video of 35-year-old hostage Elkana Bohbot.

The video began with Bohbot addressing his wife, Rivka: “I think of you every single day and night — every hour. I see you and our son, Re ’em, in my dreams. You’re my hero. I call on everyone, the IDF and the government, to bring us home.”

Through the Hostage and Missing Family Members Forum, the Bohbot family issued a statement, “We are heartbroken and in utter shock. At the end of Passover, a holiday meant to celebrate freedom, we are living through its exact opposite. How much pain can one person be expected to bear? We are gravely worried about Elkana’s physical and mental state. That’s clear to anyone who sees him. How much longer will he be forced to wait and simply ‘stay strong’?”

The family’s statement continued, stressing that Bohbot can sense “how much he was wronged” and asked, “How is it possible that the State of Israel did not include him, a father of a young child, in the ‘humanitarian list’ they formulated?”

Hamas has been releasing a hostage video every week, and this is the third time in a month that they have published footage featuring Bohbot.

In a previous video, Bohbot said, “The real psychological battle is waking up each day without my son, without my wife. That’s what’s truly affecting my health.”

“Don’t you understand? I need to get out of here. I have no food… I’m suffocating. I just want to be free. Please, help me,” Elkana pleaded.

Rivka Bohbot has spoken publicly about the anguish she has experienced watching the Hamas videos.

“That’s not my husband’s face. I saw anger,” she said in response to previously released footage.

“I pulled over to the side of the road and started watching. As I saw my husband’s lips, his cheeks, his sunken eyes, I broke down in tears. My son asked, ‘Why are you crying?’ and I told him, ‘Just a moment, Ram,’ before saying, ‘Mom misses Dad.’ I couldn’t let him see the video.

That man… he’s not the same person who left us smiling, with his blonde hair, on October 6. That’s how our son should remember him. No child should ever have to witness something like this.”