‘I’m asking Bibi to free us’: 8-year-old hostage appears in newly discovered video

The child’s family approved sharing the video “to expose Hamas’s cruelty and barbarism.”

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip recently discovered a disturbing video of a child hostage held by Hamas, in footage which was previously unreleased to the public.

The video depicts 8-year-old Ela Elyakim, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, along with her 15-year-old sister, Dafna, on October 7th.

“I’m 8 years old, and I’m asking Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] to free us,” Elyakim says in the clip. “I am a captive of Hamas.”

In the footage, Elyakןm is seen standing in front of a Hamas flag. In a still photo, her older sister is also visible.

The sisters were freed in a December 2023 hostage deal after 51 days in captivity.

“I was afraid to go to sleep,” Dafna Elyakim told Hebrew-language media about their ordeal.

“I didn’t know what would happen in the morning, if I would wake up. I told myself all the time that there’s a chance that I’m going to sleep and won’t wake up, or that I’ll wake up but Ela won’t, or the other way around.”

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a media statement that Hamas had intended to release the video as a form of psychological terror.

“But Ela’s family asked us to share it with the world to expose Hamas’s terror, to expose Hamas’s cruelty, to expose Hamas’s barbarism,” Hagari said.

Hagari said Elyakim told military officials that “Hamas terrorists forced her to read from a script, forced her to change her clothes, and forced her to re-film this terrifying scene over and over and over again.”

Hagari added that “our hearts go out to Ela, her family, and all the hostage families. Please help us respect the wishes of Ela’s family by sharing this video far and wide. We will continue doing everything in our power to bring our hostages back home.”

families of hostagesfreed hostagesGaza hostagesIsraeli children