The distraught mother of a teenage hostage still being held in Gaza has made the painful decision to release images of herself pleading for her life.
Daniela Gilboa, 19, was forced to film a sickening propaganda video for Hamas in which she appears emaciated and frightened as she pleads: “I’m afraid for my life.”
She implores the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to “get their act together” and “bring us home alive,” but almost six months later, Daniela remains in captivity.
Today, her heartbroken mother, Orly Gilboa, 48, is appealing to world leaders and diplomats to see the images. She says: “My daughter hopes you will do everything possible to bring her home.”
The footage marked the first time Daniela had been seen alive since her abduction from the Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border, where she was performing mandatory national service as an unarmed observer.
Daniela Gilboa, 19, was forced to film a sickening propaganda video for Hamas (pictured above) where she is seen emaciated and frightened as she pleads: “I’m scared for my life.”
She implores the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to “come to an agreement” and “bring us home alive,” but almost six months later, Daniela (pictured before she was kidnapped) remains in captivity.
Today, her heartbroken mother, Orly Gilboa (pictured in Daniela’s bedroom), 48, is appealing to world leaders and diplomats to see the images. She tells them: “My daughter hopes you do everything possible to bring her home.”
Daniela was pictured in a video released by Hamas after she was taken hostage.
“Where were you on October 7th when they dragged me out of bed?” he says, sounding as if he hadn’t seen the light of day for months.
“Where are you now? Why should I, a soldier who gave his all to this country and served in such difficult conditions in the Gaza Strip, feel abandoned and discarded by you?”
The footage was released in January, but there was a media blackout that prevented the video from being published because it is a form of psychological warfare.
His mother today waved her hand to ask him to say that the family “needs Israel and the world to understand and remember that there are still 120 hostages waiting to be rescued.”
Daniela begins the video by introducing herself as a soldier from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, who was kidnapped along with four other observers on October 7.
“I have been held captive by Hamas for 107 days and I don’t know when or if I will ever return home,” she says, dressed in a grey hooded sweatshirt.
“I am under constant shelling and gunfire 24 hours a day. I fear for my life. At one point, their bombs nearly killed me.”
Addressing the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu, he adds: ‘Get your act together, dear government, and start doing your job properly to bring us all home while we are still alive.
“I don’t need food, money, clothes or anything else. Just bring us home alive.”
She ends by addressing her parents, her sister and her boyfriend directly.
“To my dear family, I miss you so much and I love you all: Mom, Dad, Nuni and Roiko,” she says. “Please be strong and do everything you can to bring me home while I’m still alive.”
It’s been about 170 days since the video was posted, and while there have been promising rumours about negotiations in recent weeks, a deal still seems elusive.
Orly told the Daily Mail: ‘We are now at a very critical moment and I am worried that people have forgotten about Daniela.
The footage was published in January, but there was a news blackout that prevented the video from being released because it is a form of psychological warfare.
Daniela begins the video by introducing herself as a soldier from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, who was kidnapped along with four other observers on October 7.
Israeli soldiers Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy sit on the ground during their capture by Hamas soldiers at the Nahal Oz military base in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in this screenshot taken from a video posted on May 22, 2024.
While Daniela (pictured before she was taken hostage) appears “strong and determined,” psychological evaluations indicate she is in a “bad mental state” in the images, her mother said.
The Daily Mail previously highlighted their plight along with that of fellow hostages Agam Berger and Liri Albag, both 19, in a powerful article shown at the UN (pictured: Ran Gilboa, Orly Gilboa and Shomi Berger)
We need Israel and the world to remember again that there are 120 hostages waiting for us to rescue them.
“It was very difficult for me to do this. I can’t watch this video, just listening to it bothers me a lot.
“But I am not important, the only important thing is Daniela’s release to bring her back home and I will do anything for her.”
Although the teenager appears “strong and determined,” psychological evaluations indicate she is in a “bad mental state” in the images, her mother said.
“She looks strong and confident, but she’s not really. She’s acting, I could see it in her eyes.”
Orly said she broke down when her daughter addressed her family directly. “It was emotional at first, but I could hear her.
“But right at the moment when she was talking to us, to her parents, to her sister, to her boyfriend, that’s when I started crying. I couldn’t hear what she was saying after that.
“It was very hard, very hard to see her. All this happened 170 days ago. So right now I don’t even know how she is. We are very worried.”
Orly also said that Daniela was very “precise” in her request to Netanyahu. She said: “She is asking him to do everything possible for her to return home.
“As a soldier, she gave 100 percent to Israel, and that’s why she expects Israel to give 100 percent to bring her back home.”
Daniela filmed the video alongside another observer, Karina Ariev, also 19, in January.
The Daily Mail previously highlighted his plight along with that of fellow hostages Agam Berger and Liri Albag, both 19, in a powerful article shown at the UN.
Under the haunting headline “Don’t forget them,” the story showed devastating images of the four girls taken hours after they were captured by Hamas.
It has become a symbol of the campaign demanding the release of all remaining hostages.