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Shira Albag, the mother one of the IDF soldiers seen in a video during the Hamas terrorist kidnapping of her and her friends, told Israel's Kan Public Broadcaster that in the film the terrorists are heard saying: "Here, these are the girls who can get pregnant."
The video that was aired Wednesday at 6 p.m. is a short edited and censored version of the full footage, captured by the body cameras of Hamas terrorists on October 7.
"I can tell you that I am one of the only mothers who have seen the video," Albag said. "Most of the mothers have not watched it. It is very difficult to watch. You see the girls there, after they have entered the shelter, and even after their friends have already been murdered. Large numbers of terrorists enter and they are treated with brutality and violence, and they are spoken to in a very unpleasant and violent manner. There is something unsaid that we are afraid of, but they even say it there among themselves: 'These are the girls who can get pregnant.'"
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Female soldiers held by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from body cam footage
(Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
"The girls sat in the shelter for about two hours after the terrorists captured the base," according to Albag. "They are handcuffed and tied while all their friends are lying next to them and the terrorists are on top of them. This is a very edited video, very censored. It is three minutes long and does not show everything that happened there in the entire two hours - but one can only imagine."
At the Nahal Oz base, 15 female IDF soldiers who served at the base were murdered on October 7, and seven were abducted alive to the Gaza Strip. Ori Magidish was rescued by IDF forces after 23 days in captivity with the launch of ground operations in Gaza. Noa Marciano was killed by Hamas terrorists while in captivity, and her body was recovered and brought back to Israel by the IDF for burial.
The five soldiers still held by Hamas are Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy. They have been in captivity for 229 days.
'Their friends were dying in front of their eyes'
"Unfortunately, for two or three weeks now we have not heard public discussion about the return of the hostages, everything is stuck, Orly Gilboa, the mother of hostage Daniella said. "The decision-makers have time to wait - they have other goals, so this led us to release the video to the public. I personally have not dared to watch all the footage - but the decision-makers had to see what the girls have been going through for 230 days."
According to Gilboa, Knesset members and government ministers received the full version of the footage. "Out of respect for the murdered women from that day, we censored it, but our girls sat in the shelter in front of the bodies of at least 12 of their friends," she said. Despite the difficulty, she watched specific parts of the film, emphasizing that "I can't describe what I see in Daniella's eyes, these are looks that are hard to explain. She saw death in front of her, it's far beyond fear. It's so hard."
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Female soldiers abducted from Nahal Oz base (from L-R): Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Naama Levy
"You have to understand the context around these photos," Gilboa said. "It is already after the terrorists entered the shelter, which is a relatively small place; the terrorists are shooting everywhere, throwing grenades, and their friends are on fire; they experience this and finally the terrorists get to them and handcuff them. There are dozens of terrorists in this small place and their friends are dying in front of their eyes; in my worst nightmares, in the biggest and most terrible Hollywood movie, I never thought I would see such a moment in my daughter's eyes."
Gilboa also said that her daughter is seen in the footage with an injury, and that she may have been hit by gunfire, a grenade or shrapnel. "You see she is injured in the leg," she said. she hoped that the public airing of the video would rekindle pubic awareness of the issue of the hostages.
"We need to wake up the people who have gone back to routine," she said. "The hostages have been moved to the background, they don't fully understand the urgency. We need to wake up the decision-makers and beg for a Cabinet discussion on this. Everything is being conducted lazily because they have time, they sleep in their beds and eat with their families."
The War Cabinet convened on Wednesday night but, according to Gilboa, only Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has agreed to a meeting with the families of the hostages in the meantime.
"They say that first they will eliminate Hamas and then they will free the hostages - but it should be the other way around," she said. "The danger to the hostages is immediate, they are suffering, are murdered and injured by IDF fire. Dealing with Hamas will take years, the urgency is first of all to get the hostages out of there, even if you have to pay a price. They say that a deal is not possible, but these are slogans. Everything has to be done to bring back whoever it is possible."
'It's impossible to avoid'
"My parents watched the video first, it didn't take too long and we also watched it," Shai, Liri Elbag's older sister, said. "You can see the fear in their eyes, I look at my sister and don't recognize her. It is a very shocking video, very difficult. Liri saw with her own eyes her friends are being murdered, their bodies being tied up, and the number of terrorists that are around them and how they are being talked to.
She went on to say: "Seeing it with my own eyes is even worse than I imagined. This is a video from October 7, so many things have happened since then, so many things they see and experience every day – and for the last two weeks they have not talked about the hostages at all. I don't know how people don't talk about them, how people don't dare to watch this video."
Last month Ynet revealed that the footage was previously shown to the War Cabinet and the expanded Security Cabinet, but many of the ministers chose not to watch it. Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, turned to the ministers who chose to watch the film asked: "You don't want to sleep well at night?"
Referring to Smotrich, Shai Elbag said: "Today he could not avoid it, everyone saw it here in this country and all over the world and will remember that these are living people and that they should be brought home. Of course, the bodies of the murdered also should be brought back, but there are still living people who suffer abuse daily. We have to do everything possible to bring them home."
Will ministers who oppose the deal change their minds following the video?
"I really want to hope that they will not be able to remain indifferent to such footage, and that they will just try to imagine their child in this situation and maybe it will change things there a little. They must remember that Liri and the other girls were kidnapped during their shift. They went to protect the state and that's how the state should protect them and all the hostages, and they are currently failing at this. For eight months, this has not happened, for eight months all the hostages are abused minute by minute."
Smotrich released a statement after seeing the clip in which he said the horrors depicted there only bolster his position that eliminating Hamas is the only way hostages would be returned.
First published: 16:19, 05.22.24