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"Seeing him alive in the video for the first time since October 7 moved the entire family," Avi Ohana, the father of hostage Yosef-Chaim Ohana, said in an interview with Ynet, following the release of a Hamas video showing his son.
"It gave us hope. I thank God, and we are praying intensely across the country. Now, more than ever, they must bring them home. We need a swift deal—not an all-out war."
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Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Chaim Ohana
He emphasized the urgency of securing the hostages' release, expressing concern over his son's deteriorating condition. "They need to get them out already—you can see how bad it is. I know my son; he is thin, and it’s clear he is in worse shape. He was a very strong, muscular kid, and now he looks emaciated," Ohana said.
Ohana also shared a message he received through Ohad Ben Ami, a former hostage who was released in a prisoner exchange. "He desperately wants to come home," Ohana said. "Through Ohad, he told us that he misses us deeply and asked us to stay strong. He wants to return home, to see his siblings and family. He loves us. The message is clear—he is longing to come home to his family."
As a father, Ohana described how his family's life has been in turmoil since his son was taken. "Our lives stopped on October 7," he said. "I told Gal Hirsch —we no longer have lives. Everything revolves around him. We are doing everything possible for him and the other hostages. Life has stopped—we don’t work, we don’t function normally, we barely eat or sleep. Our immediate family is in a very difficult state. We are just waiting for this nightmare to end. We are living in a nightmare. I dream of him at night—being together, the family happy—and then I wake up and wish I could stay in the dream. Reality is a nightmare."
Ohana appealed to freed hostage Ohad Ben Ami in the video, urging him to speak for those left behind in captivity. "They fear for their lives, they have no hope, and since the fighting resumed, their conditions have worsened and their food supply has been reduced," Ben Ami said in a post.
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He is currently in Germany as part of a delegation set to meet with the new German chancellor and other government officials. "Everything is aimed at influencing decision-makers in Israel to bring the hostages home—not today, but yesterday—even if it requires an immediate stop to the war," he wrote. "I have said before and will say again—you can always resume fighting after bringing all the hostages back if Hamas violates the ceasefire."
He added, "Hamas isn’t going anywhere, and there will always be a way to deal with them. But the hostages may not survive the coming days because they are in constant danger since the fighting resumed. We will not rest until the last hostage is home. To my five friends I left behind—I love and miss you, and I will do everything in my power to bring you and all the hostages back home alive."