In a shocking revelation, the mother of former Hamas captive Daniella Gilboa recounted her daughter's harrowing experience of being coerced into portraying her own demise for a staged propaganda video. Orly Gilboa shared the distressing details with Israel’s Channel 12, explaining how her daughter was instructed to play dead, covered in debris and powder to mimic the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike.
Hamas had falsely asserted in November 2024 that Gilboa had perished in an Israeli attack, presenting the fabricated video as evidence. However, Gilboa was thankfully alive and eventually released on January 25, 2025, along with several other hostages: Liri Albag, Naama Levy, and Karina Ariev.
The image above captures the emotional reunion between Gilboa, a soldier captured from her base in southern Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack, and her parents. The photograph was released by the Israel Defense Forces via Reuters following her liberation as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange agreement.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had previously launched an investigation into the propaganda video and condemned Hamas’s actions as “psychological terror” and “extreme brutality.” Hamas produced similar videos featuring other hostages, including Yarden Bibas, who was shown being informed of his family's supposed death. The actual fate of Bibas's wife and children remains uncertain.
Gilboa, Albag, Levy, and Ariev were among the individuals abducted from a southern Israeli IDF base during the initial October 2023 attacks. Another soldier, Agam Berger, who was captured alongside them, endured an additional week in captivity before being released on January 30, 2025.
Gilboa sustained a gunshot wound to her leg during her capture, but the bullet remained untreated throughout her captivity. Her father, Ran Gilboa, described her as a “hero returning from hell” in an interview with Ynet, revealing the agonizing two days of uncertainty following her abduction. He also shared that the hostages received increased food rations in the days leading up to their release and were only given three days' notice of their impending freedom.
The physical condition of three other hostages released earlier – Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami – sparked outrage in Israel due to their apparent malnourishment. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog condemned their treatment as a “crime against humanity.”
Amidst a fragile ceasefire, Hamas threatened to halt hostage releases, prompting then-President Donald Trump to issue a deadline of Saturday, February 15, 2025, at noon for the return of all remaining captives. Trump warned of dire consequences if the deadline wasn't met, advocating for Israel to “let all hell break out” and “resume intense combat” if necessary. Israel’s security cabinet endorsed Trump's stance. Subsequently, Hamas declared its intention to release three more hostages as initially planned.
