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| Naama, 19, was among seven young female conscripts taken hostage by Hamas gunmen who attacked Nahal Oz military base in southern Israel on 7 October |
The brother of Israeli hostage Naama Levy stated that the family released a harrowing new video of his sister and other female hostages being kidnapped to remind the world and its leaders of the urgent need to secure their release.
Nineteen-year-old Naama and six other young women were abducted by Hamas gunmen from the Nahal Oz military base on October 7, where they served as observers monitoring surveillance cameras along the Gaza perimeter fence.
A previous Hamas video widely circulated showed Naama with blood around the crotch of her trousers, her hands tied, and her ankles cut. Now, the families of Naama and four other women have decided to release further footage filmed by the kidnappers' body cameras. The video captures the moment the teenagers were seized and tied up, with others at the base being killed.
**Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.**
In the three-minute video, gunmen can be seen screaming at the women, some still in their pajamas and most with bloody faces. The women are tied up against a wall before being bundled into a jeep with visible injuries.
The gunmen yell at them in Arabic: “You dogs, we will step on you... we will shoot you all.” One of them says in English: "You're beautiful." Naama, her face covered in blood, tells them in English: “I have friends in Palestine.” She had previously been part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. Her family describes her as “a peace seeker.”
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| Naama Levy (L) is seen with her hands bound and with a bloodied face in the newly released video footage, which was filmed by Hamas gunmen |
Naama’s brother, Amit, is visiting London to campaign for his sister’s release. He mentioned that the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal were in “a very bad place.”
“We hope that this video will encourage all sides to get back to the table and understand that it’s an unbearable humanitarian issue that needs to be solved,” he told the BBC. “This might be the last chance to save them.”
Amit described watching the newly released video as “very hard... seeing my little sister with such a... such a look in her eyes.”
“I never imagined I would see her this frightened and hurt,” he added. However, he also found strength in the video, saying, “We feel like she's handling the situation like the true superhero she is, like a hero fighting for her life.”
Of the seven female observers kidnapped from Nahal Oz, one – Noa Marciano – was killed in Gaza. The Israeli military reported finding her body in a building near Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital in November. Another, Ori Megidish, was rescued by Israeli forces during an operation inside Gaza at the end of October.
Teenagers Liri Albag, 18, Karina Ariev, 19, Daniela Gilboa, 19, and Agam Berger, 19, are still held captive along with Naama. They have been hostages for 229 days.
After seeing the video of Naama with bloodied trousers when she was kidnapped and hearing other hostages' testimonies, her family fears the risk of sexual assault.
“It’s very, very hard for us. It's a fear ever since October 7 that doesn't leave me, doesn't leave anyone in the family,” Amit said. “We realize that there is... there is a chance, maybe even a good chance, that Naama and other girls and men are being harassed. And it's a fear that is painful in ways that are indescribable. We just have to keep fighting for her to get out of this hell.”
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