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An Israeli has revealed the shock and fear of finding out his brother had been taken hostage by Hamas after seeing a propaganda video circulated online.
Uriel Bohbot, 31, reeled in horror when a friend sent on the video of Elkana, 34, among captives at the Nova festival when Hamas began their incursion on Saturday.
He said: ‘I recognised him instantly thanks to his blond hair and said, “Oh my god! They’ve got my brother”.’
The video showed Uriel alive, being bundled into a truck heading back towards Gaza.
An estimated 150 captives have been taken by Hamas on Saturday during its assault on Israel, which has answered with devastating airstrikes and a siege of the Gaza Strip.
Elkana Bohbot was viewed alive, held among other hostages in a video shared by Hamas
Uriel Bohbot, left, with his brother. Elkana was kidnapped whilst attending the Nova Festival
Uriel (lawful) said: ‘I recognised him (left) instantly thanks to his blond hair and said, “Oh my god! They’ve got my brother”.’
Charred and damaged cars along a barren status road after an attack by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Trance song festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023
Destroyed cars are viewed at the rave party space near the Kibbutz Re’im, cease to the Gaza Strip border fence, on Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Israel Protection Forces reservists pose while lying on a tank near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel
Israeli tanks transfer near the Israeli Gaza border, Israel, Wednesday, October 11, 2023
An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11, 2023
A man inspects the interior of a house damaged in Israeli artillery shelling in the town of Al-Dhayra, Lebanon, on October 11, 2023
Destruction from Israeli aerial bombardment is viewed in Gaza Metropolis, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023
After seeing the video in San Francisco, Uriel took the first flight to Jerusalem to be with his family.
‘When we realised Hamas have been attacking we called Elkana and he told our mum; I am OK and I am apt helping of us to gather out of here,’ he said.
‘I know my brother and he would by no means leave anyone behind – and I think that’s why they caught him.
‘At least we have this video which is a signal of life.’
Elkana runs an ice-cream store in Tel Aviv, according to The Sun.
Extra than 260 died at the festival in southern Israel after militants on paragliders and armed males in vans swept into the match apt after dawn on Saturday.
Some 150 of us have now reportedly been taken hostage by the neighborhood, with footage showing some being taken back into Gaza on golf carts and in trucks.
Hamas has outdated hostages as leverage, vowing on Monday that the neighborhood would achieve a captive for each unannounced airstrike on civilian homes in Gaza.
The same day, the neighborhood said it was open to discussions over a conceivable truce, having ‘achieved its targets’.
On Wednesday, the Qassam Brigades (IQB) – Hamas’ military wing – released a video appearing to show the release of a female hostage and two adolescents.
‘An Israeli settler and her two adolescents have been released after they have been detained during the clashes,’ the IQB said in a statement, according to the Afp information agency.
Peaceful, there has been no indicators of de-escalation as strikes threaten to spill over into nearby Lebanon and Syria.
Rocket sirens sounded in northern Israel on Wednesday following experiences ‘regarding an infiltration into Israeli air space from Lebanon’, the IDF said.
Israel later ‘ruled out’ an aerial invasion from Lebanon, blaming a ‘human error’ malfunction in the alert machine.
It came after Hezbollah claimed to have killed and wounded Israeli troops after firing anti-tank missiles at an Israeli state earlier in the day.
Israel confirmed the attack and said it returned fire, without commenting on conceivable casualties.
International onlookers have raised considerations the warfare may spill over into nearby nations.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday warned Iran of getting involved in the warfare. ‘We made it clear to the Iranians: Be careful,’ he said.
Iran likely knew Hamas militants have been planning ‘operations against Israel’ however initial U.S. intelligence experiences showed that some Iranian leaders have been greatly surprised by the neighborhood’s exceptional attack from Gaza, U.S. sources said on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the Wall Highway Journal first reported that Iranian safety officials had helped plan Hamas’ attack the day prior, giving the inexperienced gentle for the assault.
The President also said that he had ‘[seen] and confirmed photos of terrorists beheading adolescents’ and called Saturday ‘the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust’.
He added that he was ‘working on each aspect’ of the hostage disaster in Israel, however said: ‘the idea that I am going to stand here before you and allege you what I am doing is bizarre.’
The comments came after a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that small toddlers and babies had been came upon in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel, with ‘heads decapitated’.
A reporter from i24 News said an IDF commander told her they had came upon the bodies of 40 babies, a few of whom had been beheaded.
The IDF would now not verify this was fair. A statement read: ‘We cannot verify any numbers.
‘What happened in Kibbutz Kfar Aza is a massacre in which females, adolescents and small toddlers and aged have been brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action.’
Hamas also on Wednesday denied ‘false’ experiences about attacking adolescents during its attacks.
‘The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Circulate Hamas has strongly dismissed the false claims promoted by some Western media retail outlets, such as Palestinian freedom warring parties killing adolescents and targeting civilians,’ Hamas said on its Telegram channel.
US President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable discussion with leaders of the Jewish neighborhood at the White Home in Washington, D.C., USA, 11 October 2023
President Biden held the discussion following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel
A convoy of Israel Protection Forces troopers drives along a road near the outskirts of Netivot and near an Artillery state on October 11, 2023 in Netivot, Israel
A family appears out from a window at a member of the Israeli safety force on patrol on October 11, 2023 in Sderot, Israel
Israeli troops search the scene of a Palestinian militant attack in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Aza on the border with the Gaza Strip on October 11, 2023
A house is totally destroyed after being burned by Hamas militants during the attack at Kibbutz Be’eri, near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023
Destroyed cars are viewed at the rave party space near the Kibbutz Re’im, cease to the Gaza Strip border fence, on October 10, 2023
Supermarket shelves containing dry goods are left largely empty two days after the Home Entrance Command issued a warning by mistake advising that residents must peaceful be prepared for 72 hours in a safe room on October 11, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel on Wednesday continued to prepare for an anticipated floor invasion of Gaza. Leaders yesterday formed an emergency war cabinet to reveal a united entrance.
The IDF has shown no signal of backing down from its continued bombardment of Gaza, despite efforts from Qatar and the United States to mediate peace talks.
‘We can wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, off the face of the earth,’ Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. ‘This can cease to exist.’
Israeli jets have pounded the Gaza Strip for days in retribution for a weekend attack by Palestinian Hamas militants who breached the border fence enclosing Gaza.
The Israeli military claims 1,200 of us have been killed and over 2,700 injured following assaults through cities and villages in Israel.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says retributive bombings by Israeli fighter jets have killed 1,100 of us and wounded extra than 5,000.
Some 535 residential buildings have been destroyed leaving around 250,000 homeless, Hamas officials said.
On Tuesday, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari admitted ‘hundreds of heaps of bombs’ had already been dropped on Gaza: ‘The emphasis is on damage and now not accuracy.’
The day prior, Israel imposed a ‘total siege’ of Gaza, cutting off electricity, gas and meals for the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million of us.
Gaza’s sole energy station ran out of gas on Wednesday, leaving hundreds seeking shelter in the entry of its largest hospital as strikes continued overhead.
‘The hospital is totally paunchy and things have started to hasten low. And this is totally day four,’ said Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon at al-Shifa, on Wednesday.
‘The situation continues to deteriorate, the variety of patients, especially adolescents, that are coming in with horrendous injuries…’ he said, as reported in The Guardian.
‘This morning there was a small one, a young girl, with indescribable facial injuries whose mother is a doctor at al-Shifa who was killed when their house was targeted.
‘Last night, another 10-year-former boy with also devastating facial injuries who was taken out from the rubble of his house in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.’
On Wednesday, the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called for essential ‘life saving’ affords of gas, meals and water to be allowed into Gaza.
The same day, four paramedics have been killed in strikes and shelling on Gaza.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, a non-govt organisation, accused Israel of ‘instantly targeting a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance in northern Gaza’.
Rights groups and charities have advised against the siege, claiming this can ‘lead to a humanitarian catastrophe’, and pleading with Israel now to not halt aid from reaching ‘an already vulnerable population’.
Mustafa Tamaizeh, Oxfam Acting Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said on Tuesday: ‘Violence by no means paves the way for peace. The international neighborhood must use all diplomatic tools at its disposal to accept an immediate ceasefire.
‘The decision to enforce a ‘total siege’ by the Israeli govt, in addition to the ongoing blockade, will further swear Gazan civilians essentials cherish meals, water and electricity.
‘This constitutes collective punishment of a population that bears no accountability for the violence and is illegal below international law.
‘This can now not make contributions to peace and safety, instead, this can further fan the flames of this disaster.’
Biden said he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again on Wednesday, their fourth conversation in latest days, and told him Israel must peaceful apply the ideas of war in its response against Hamas.
Smoke rises following an air strike on Gaza Metropolis. On Wednesday, four paramedics have been killed in strikes and shelling on Gaza
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza Metropolis, Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza Metropolis, Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip on, 11 October. Extra than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 injured, according to the Ministry of Health
Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed and extra than 2,700 wounded.
An IDF spokesperson said the death count has risen by 200 as ‘we are discovering bodies of dead Israelis in the various communities that Hamas infiltrated and where they conducted their massacres’.
1,100 Palestinians have been killed and extra than 5,229 injured.
Extra than 260,000 have fled their homes amid heavy bombing by land, sea and air.
Seventeen Britons are feared dead or missing in Israel following attacks by Hamas.
British Airways on Wednesday suspended flights to and from Israel as a result of safety considerations.