An Israeli campaign group on Wednesday released footage of five Israeli women soldiers being captured by Palestinian militants from a military base during Hamas’ October 7 attack, after their families gave permission.
The three-minute clip showed the women sitting on the ground, some with blood on their faces, with their hands tied following their capture from the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel.
“I have friends in Palestine,” one of the conscripts, 19-year-old Naama Levy, pleads in English.
One of the gunmen can be heard shouting back in Arabic: “You are dogs! We will step on you, dogs!”
Another gunman tells a captive: “You’re beautiful.”
Towards the end of the clip, the women are seen being taken away by militants in a military jeep amid screams.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents relatives of the 124 people – mostly civilians – still held by Hamas, said the footage was recovered from bodycams worn by gunmen who attacked the base where the women served as surveillance spotters.
“The footage reveals the violent, humiliating and traumatising treatment the girls endured on the day of their abduction, their eyes filled with raw terror,” the forum said as it released the footage to the media for publication.
The families hoped the footage would increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a truce with Hamas and secure the hostages’ release.
The government saw the release of the subtitled three-minute clip to national and international media as an opportunity to shore up support.
“These girls are still in the captivity of Hamas. Please don’t look away,” government spokesman David Mencer told reporters. “Watch the film. Support Israel in bringing our people home.”
“It’s time to act, otherwise the blood of my sister and other hostages will be on the hands” of the Israeli authorities, said Sasha Ariev, sister of one of the seized soldiers.
“Everyone has now seen these young girls taken captive in their pyjamas … the only victory is to bring them back quickly and alive.”
After the base was stormed by Hamas militants on October 7, more than 50 Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack, 15 of whom were women.
Seven female soldiers were taken hostage and one has since been freed in an Israeli military operation, while the body of another was found and brought to Israel.
Hamas’s attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of Israeli official figures.
The militants also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,709 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Additional reporting by Reuters
