Family members of Arie Zalmanowicz, the oldest Israeli hostage still held by Hamas in Gaza, were recently shown new, close-range footage of his abduction that had not been previously made public, his son revealed Saturday at a rally in Tel Aviv.
The video, believed to have been filmed in Khan Younis shortly after the 86-year-old was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, was shown to several family members last month by the government hostage task force, according to Boaz Zalmanowicz.
A video of the abduction of Arie Zalmanowicz, released by the family in August 2024
The clip shows Arie Zalmanowicz seated on a motorcycle between two Hamas terrorists. Unlike an earlier, grainier version released by the family in August 2024, the new video was shot from close range and shows him visibly wounded and terrified.
“The bandage on his head covered the wound from the blow he suffered. Blood dripped onto his beard. His frightened eyes stared in horror,” his son said during the rally, held at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. “His frail hands tried to hold on to the back of the man sitting in front of him, as if he had no other savior.”
Zalmanowicz was the oldest hostage taken during the attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and led to the kidnapping of more than 250 others, according to Israeli authorities. Hamas later claimed in a propaganda video that he died from Israeli airstrikes. Two weeks after the first round of hostage releases in November, Kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed that he had been killed and that his body remained in Gaza.
“My father was abandoned on the morning of Oct. 7 and died in terrible agony over 40 days,” Boaz said. “The Israeli government chose land over life, revenge over compassion, and did not rescue him.”
Boaz said the family has asked for the full video to be handed over, but it has not yet been released to them. He added that the footage clearly shows his father trying to move away from the camera, a detail not visible in earlier clips.
“It’s painful and heartbreaking to see your father like that,” he said. “What matters now is to bring the remaining hostages home.”
Boaz referenced other hostages whose recent images have raised alarm about their condition. “They don’t have much time, just like my father didn’t. We must act now,” he said.
During the rally, Boaz condemned what he called ongoing government inaction. “For 701 days and nights, the monster of abandonment has devoured everything in its path,” he said. “It consumes the bodies and spirits of the young in tunnels, the families left behind and the soul of Israel itself. Yet this government chooses bloodshed over rescue. Do what the people demand — stop the war and bring them all home.”