A recently released gruesome video shows Hamas terrorists armed with rifles driving three blood-soaked Israeli hostages they had just kidnapped at the Nova festival into a truck back to Gaza while shouting “Allah Akbar.”
Hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Eliyah Cohen can be seen covered in blood in the bed of a white truck as the gleeful terrorists brandish their weapons and celebrate the capture of festival-goers, according to footage released Monday by the hostages. and Missing Families Forum.
Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen, can be seen with his bone protruding from his arm as the triumphant terrorists lift him up by the hair and force him to look directly into the camera.
Although he appeared to have been most seriously injured by the attack after a grenade blew off his arm, Goldberg-Polin, 23, was the only hostage who remained seated while Levy, 33, and Cohen , 26, stood relatively still in the back of the truck while the terrorists screamed in excitement.
The poignant video was released with the families’ permission, with Levy’s loved ones stressing it was the first time they had seen him alive.
“Kind of a relief, one day happy to see that he was alive and OK, but at the same time it was horrible,” Levy’s brother, Michael, told the Post.
“Or is it my youngest brother, I used to protect him, guard him and help him with everything,” he added. “Seeing the horror on his face and not being able to do anything to help him was one of the hardest things I have ever had to experience. You feel helpless.
Michael, who first watched the video six months ago, noted that the blood covering Levy’s clothes likely belonged to his wife, Eynav, who was “murdered in front of him” at the festival.
He added that the worst part of the video appeared to be the sheer joy expressed by the gunmen in killing Israelis and taking his brother and the other hostages.
“That was the hardest thing about this video, that you could see how much they appreciate the fact that people are suffering,” Michael said.
Although the kidnapping was hard on the entire Levy family, Michael said it was hardest on Levy and Eynav’s son, who just turned 3 on Tuesday.
Michael said his nephew always asks questions about his parents and often breaks down when he sees other children being picked up by their mothers and fathers from school.
“He just sits there and cries sometimes,” the heartbroken brother said.
Goldberg-Polin’s mother, Rachel, said that although her husband and daughter have seen the video, she has yet to find the strength to see it herself.
“You don’t need to see Hersh covered in blood with his jagged bones sticking out. You don’t need to see someone pulling him by his hair to make him look at the camera,” she told the Post.
“You’re in enough pain,” she said.
As with previous videos featuring her son and other hostages, Rachel hopes this new video will raise awareness that eight Americans are among the approximately 120 hostages remaining in Gaza as the war approaches its ninth month.
She also hopes the video will put pressure on Israeli and US leaders to do everything in their power to free the hostages and end the war, with Rachel saying enough people have been injured by the incessant fighting in Israel and Gaza.
“When I see what is happening in Gaza, tears stream down my face and it shows that I am still a person,” she said of the conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
“I still have my humanity,” Rachel added.
New York Post
