Wife of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot speaks out: ‘That’s not my husband’s face’ after Hamas video released

The wife of Elkana Bohbot, who has been in Hamas captivity for 537 days in Gaza, spoke to Israeli media about the Hamas’ propaganda video on Monday featuring her husband.

"That's not my husband's face, Rivka Bohbot said. "I saw anger. I didn't feel it was just what Hamas told him to say; he was speaking from the heart,"

Bohbot, who lives with his wife and 4-year-old son, Ram, in the upscale Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion, was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023.

In the Hamas video, Bohbot and Israeli hostage Yosef Haim Ohana claim the recording was made on their own initiative and that the terror group did not require them to read a pre-scripted message. Both lamented the harsh conditions they've endured as captives in Gaza.

Rivka revealed that she received an update about the video featuring her husband while she was driving home with Ram from kindergarten.

"I stopped on the side, started watching, looked at my husband's lips, cheeks, sunken eyes, and burst into tears. My son asked, 'Why are you crying?' and I said, 'Just a moment, Ram,' before saying, 'Mom misses Dad,'" she recalled.

"I couldn't show him the video. This isn't my husband; it's another person. This isn't the man who left us on October 6 with a smile and blonde hair. That's how my son should remember his father. This is a video no child should see."

Unlike many other families of Israeli hostages, the Bohbots have kept a fairly low profile and largely avoided media exposure.

Rivka admitted, "I regret listening to the recommendations not to be in the media and not to put him in the front. We stayed on the sidelines instead of going out and fighting out of a desire to protect him. We didn't want him to be in the front, and in the end, he remained behind."

Rivka hails from Colombia and moved to Israel nine years ago. She tried to use her background and fluency in Spanish to urge Colombian President Gustavo Petro to advocate for the release of her husband.

She revealed that her view on remaining silent in the Israeli media changed after the January ceasefire, during which her husband was initially categorized as a phase 1 hostage but was ultimately left behind.

"Elkana was supposed to be [released] in phase one. He is a humanitarian (case): he has asthma, and he has a child. The State of Israel made a mistake by not putting fathers on the list; my child has universal rights," Rivka said.

Bohbot, now 36, recently marked his second birthday as a hostage in Gaza.

Rivka spoke about the challenges their young son faces growing up without his father. Without going into detail, she told him that “bad people took him.”

"We did a kind of theater with the psychologist, where there are many people with a father inside a house, and they can't get out. And there's a box on the side with planes, ambulances, police, etc. We told him that the army was looking for Dad to bring him home. Once, he watched The Lion King and said his father was in the sky, like Simba had gone to talk to Mufasa through the stars,” she recounted.

"The only thing that can't be returned is time. My husband has been 537 days without food and in terrible conditions, not seeing his son grow up."