Footage shows Israeli hostages celebrating Hanukkah in Gaza tunnels months before death
The Israeli army said their bodies were later recovered from a tunnel in Rafah and that there was no doubt Hamas killed them
A recently released footage shows Israeli hostages celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah while being held in a Gaza tunnel, reportedly recorded months before all six were killed in August last year.
The videos and photos, published Thursday by the forum representing hostage families, show Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40, under duress as they walk through a tunnel, sit on the floor playing cards and light Hanukkah candles, Associated Press reported.
The forum said the material was found in Gaza and documented their months in captivity, with some of it likely filmed during Hanukkah in December 2023, weeks after their abduction in Hamas’ October 7 attack, according to AP.
The Israeli army said their bodies were later recovered from a tunnel in Rafah and that there was no doubt Hamas killed them. The Health Ministry said autopsies showed they were shot at close range.
A senior Hamas official at the time claimed the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed proposal the group said it had recently agreed to.
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Statements from the families of the hostage
In a statement Thursday, the families said Hamas filmed the videos as propaganda and thanked Israelis and others worldwide for viewing the painful footage.
“The entire world must see our loved ones in these moments, their unity, strength, and humanity even in thYerushalmi and Gate darkest times. They were taken alive, they survived in captivity, and they should have come home alive,” AP quoted the statement.
The footage surfaces just days before Hanukkah this year and as the two-month ceasefire reaches a critical juncture.
With one hostage’s remains still in Gaza, the first phase of the US-brokered deal is nearly finished, and the parties, Israel, Hamas, the United States and a wide set of international actors, now move toward a more complex second phase.
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The clips and photos show the hostages sitting on blankets, sometimes embracing, praying over Hanukkah candles, or counting down and wishing each other a happy new year.
One photo shows facing each other with a chessboard. Other videos pan across the group as they smile or speak to the camera.
“We are here in good health, alive, and they are taking care of us,” Goldberg-Polin says in Hebrew.
“We want to return back home.”
The Berkeley-born 23-year-old, who lost part of his left arm to a grenade during the October 7 attack, appears in the footage with the stump visible.
In another hopeful message, Sarusi sits beside burning Hanukkah candles in a white tank top. “Happy holiday to all of us and to all the people of Israel,” he says. “With the help of the holiday’s miracles, we will come home.”
What happened last year?
The hostages’ deaths last year set off nationwide protests as ceasefire talks stalled, with many blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to secure a deal.
Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat were among those expected to be freed in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed a month earlier.
“It’s truly heartbreaking … They managed to protect their humanity and each other, and we failed to protect them,” Gili Roman, a relative of Gat, told The Associated Press.
Roman said Netanyahu praised himself for bringing the hostages home, “but he brought them home in body bags.” He added that families viewed the videos months ago but only received them from the army recently.
