Family of hostages forced to watch release ceremony share their heartbreak

“Looking at their scared, frightened faces, begging to come out, wanting to be like their friends who got released, it is very hard to see your son begging for his life, asking to come out,” Ilan Dalal, the father of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, told JNS on Monday.

On Saturday, Hamas published a propaganda video showing Israeli hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David at their friends’ release ceremony from captivity in Gaza.

Hamas compelled the two to watch the ceremony from inside a vehicle as hostages Eliya Cohen, 27, Avera Mengistu, 39, Hisham al-Sayed, 36, Omer Shem Tov, 22, Tal Shoham, 40, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were released.

Both Wenkert and Shoham were held with Gilboa-Dalal and David.

“This is the first sign of life we received in eight months,” Dalal told JNS. “The last sign of life was before the Israel Defense Forces conducted a rescue operation [that freed four hostages in June]. Since then, Hamas has hidden everyone in the tunnels. We had no information about them until yesterday,” he said.

“I saw my son for the first time in 16 months and heard his voice. It’s a very strong sign of life; we know he is alive, he is not wounded. They're pale and thin, but they're okay. The most important thing for us is to get them back home,” he added.

While Guy is meant to be released in the second phase of the ceasefire-hostage/prisoner exchange, there is currently no guarantee that the second phase will be reached, or that the current stage will be extended, noted Dalal.

“The parties haven’t even started to talk about it, but we have hope that they will continue this phase and the release of more hostages and that somehow we will manage to bring everybody back,” he said.

Over the past two days, Dalal and the rest of his family have spoken to all Israeli channels and attended meetings with officials to explain the urgency of getting the hostages out.

“They have no time. If we go back to war instead of releasing them, we will be risking their lives. If we really want to eliminate Hamas, we must first get the hostages home because the IDF cannot operate in Gaza in full strength as long as there are hostages there,” said Dalal.

“Stop the war, take the army out of Gaza in exchange to get all the hostages back and then we will see what happens. But, first, save lives,” he pleaded.

Gilboa-Dalal’s family first saw the latest video of Guy on social media, before being contacted minutes later by IDF intelligence officers.

“They called us to tell us there was a video and we told them we had already watched it. Sometimes social networks are faster than IDF intelligence, unfortunately,” he said.

“We took this in with mixed feelings. They're alive, but how cruel and inhuman of Hamas to take them to see their friends getting released and then sending the two back to the tunnels. I can’t imagine what is going on in their heads,” he continued.

“In the video, they are asking us to do everything we can to free them too, and this is what we are doing,” he added.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 22. Credit: Courtesy of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

On Sunday, Dalal attended a meeting with the army, during which a doctor analysed the video and evaluated the condition of the two hostages. “They apparently lost a lot of weight, they don’t get much food, they don’t seem to have seen the sun for a long time,” said Dalal.

“We have not yet had the chance to speak with Wenkert and Shoham, who were held with them. In a few days, we hope to get much more information on their condition from them,” he added.

Gilboa-Dalal, 23, the middle child of three, is close to his brother Gal, 30, currently in Washington campaigning for his release, and to his younger sister Gaya, 17, a musician.

“Guy has played the guitar from a very young age, loves computer games and had just finished his education in computer science while managing to land a job at a company two months before being abducted,” his father related.

“His big dream was to go to Japan during the cherry blossom season. He had tickets for the trip, but couldn’t go because he was abducted,” said Dalal.

On October 7, 2023, Gilboa-Dalal arrived at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel with his friends Evyatar David, Ron Tzarfati and Idan Haramati. At about 6:15 a.m., Guy met his brother Gal at the festival.

Fifteen minutes later, missiles started flying over their heads and Hamas terrorists launched their assault. The brothers headed out to separate cars.

“They went to the cars and found themselves in a chaotic traffic jam when terrorists started shooting. In the chaos, each ran in a different direction,” said Dalal.

At first, all four, including Guy and Evyatar, hid behind a structure with four policemen guarding them. Then they moved away. Guy and Evyatar were captured by Hamas, loaded onto a truck and taken to Gaza.

Tzarfati and Haramati were murdered.

“Guy and Evyatar are best friends from kindergarten. They went to the festival together and were kidnapped together,” said Dalal.

Gal evaded the terrorists for about 10 hours until he was rescued by Israeli security forces. “He took Guy’s kidnapping very hard because he felt like he couldn’t keep his brother safe; he went there to be with Guy and came back without him,” Dalal told JNS.

Last May, Guy’s family marked his 23rd birthday without him. “His next birthday will be in less than three months, and we really hope he will be home and able to celebrate with us,” he said.

“In our home, there is still a sukkah standing because on Oct. 6, before he left, Guy asked me not to take the sukkah down alone. He said he would come back from the festival and help me take it apart. He didn’t come back and the sukkah is still standing there waiting for him to keep his promise,” he added.