By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli television on Wednesday broadcast previously withheld footage of five female army conscripts in pajamas captured by Hamas gunmen during the Oct. 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war.
Prisoners’ families hoped the images would increase pressure on the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude a truce with Hamas and obtain the release of the hostages.
The government saw the broadcast of the three-minute subtitled clip in national and international media as an opportunity to build support.
“These girls are still in Hamas captivity. Please don’t look away,” government spokesman David Mencer told reporters. “Watch the film. Help Israel bring our people home.”
The images show the young women, all knocked out and some bloodied, tied up and crammed into a jeep.
“I have friends in Palestine,” pleads in English one of the conscripts, Naama Levy, 19 years old.
One of the gunmen can be heard shouting in Arabic: “You are dogs! We will step on you, dogs!”
Another shooter said to a captive: “You are beautiful. »
The Hostage Families Forum, which represents relatives of the 124 people – mostly civilians – still held by Hamas, said the footage was recovered from body cameras worn by gunmen who attacked the base in Nahal Oz, in southern Israel, where women served as guards.
Photos of the slain Israeli soldiers were excluded and the publication was approved by the families of the five captives, the forum said.
“The Israeli government must not waste another moment; it must return to the negotiating table today!” declared the Forum.
Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 kidnapped in the October 7 attack by Hamas. Israel responded by launching an offensive to eliminate the Islamist militant group in which Gaza health authorities say more than 35,000 Palestinians were killed. The Israeli military says 286 Israeli soldiers were also killed.
Netanyahu’s government says continued military pressure will force Hamas to yield. The families of hostages fear that their loved ones will not survive and that the captive women will be raped. Hamas has denied allegations of sexual abuse by its men.
“So please do everything you can to bring them home,” Orly Gilboa, whose daughter Daniela is hostage, told Reuters. “They suffer there every minute, every second. And every minute is important.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the ambassadors of Ireland, Norway and Spain, whom it summoned to protest their governments’ preparations to recognize a Palestinian state, would see the video during a special screening Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Michal Yaakov Itzhaki, editing by Timothy Heritage)
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