New videos show six Israeli hostages celebrating Jewish holiday, months before they were killed

TEL AVIV — New videos of six Israeli hostages show them celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah while being held captive in a tunnel in Gaza, several months before they were killed.

Israel said all six were killed last August by Hamas, shortly before Israeli troops arrived.

The videos and photos were published Thursday for the first time by the forum representing hostage families. They show Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40, filmed under duress, walking through a tunnel in Gaza, playing cards on the floor and lighting the holiday candles.

The forum said the videos were found in Gaza and documented the hostages’ months in captivity. At least some was likely filmed during Hanukkah in December 2023, weeks after they’d been abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

The Israeli army said their bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and there was no doubt Hamas killed them. The Israeli Health Ministry said that autopsies had determined the hostages were shot at close range.

At the time of their deaths, a senior Hamas official said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal that Hamas said it had recently agreed to.

Families praise hostages’ unity and strength

The hostages’ killings last year sparked protests across the country, at a time when ceasefire negotiations were dragging, with many blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to reach a deal. Some of the hostages — Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat — had been slated to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed a month prior.

“It’s truly heartbreaking … They managed to protect their humanity and each other, and we failed to protect them,” Gili Roman, who has family ties to Gat, told the Associated Press. Netanyahu praised himself for bringing home all of the hostages but he brought them home in body bags, he said. Roman said that the families saw the videos a few months ago but only received them from the army recently.

The videos are a reminder of the failure by Israel and Hamas to reach a deal when both knew the hostages were still alive, said Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Gat. Now the body of the last remaining hostage, police officer Ran Gvili, must be returned, Dickmann said.

“We will demand from our government, we will demand from Hamas to not to do anything else, not to proceed to the second stage [of the current ceasefire deal] until Rani is back and all the hostages are back,” he said.

In a statement Thursday the families of the hostages said Hamas filmed the videos as propaganda, and thanked Israelis and people around the world for watching the harrowing scenes. “The entire world must see our loved ones in these moments, their unity, strength, and humanity even in the darkest times. They were taken alive, they survived in captivity, and they should have come home alive,” said the statement.

The videos come days ahead of Hanukkah this year and as the two-month-old ceasefire reaches a critical point. With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire is nearly complete. Now, the key players — including Israel, Hamas, the United States and a diverse list of international parties — are to move to a more complicated second phase.

Candles and prayers for Hanukkah

The series of short videos and photos shows the hostages seated on blankets on the floor, at times embracing one another and saying prayers over the Hanukkah candles. In one video they’re heard counting down and wishing each other a happy new year. In one photo the two women, Yerushalmi and Gat, are seated across from each other with a chessboard between them. Some videos panned across the hostages as they smiled or spoke to the camera.

“We are here in good health, alive, and they are taking care of us,” said Goldberg-Polin, in Hebrew. “We want to return back home.”

A native of Berkeley, Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack and the stump of his arm is seen in the video. His parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, were some of the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage.

In another message of hope, Sarusi sits on the floor in a white tank top beside the burning Hanukkah candles.

“Happy holiday to all of us and to all the people of Israel,” he said into the camera. “With the help of the holiday’s miracles, we will come home.”

Mednick writes for the Associated Press.