Ten and a half months after returning from captivity, Elkana Bohbot and his wife, Rebecca, welcomed a daughter, a little sister for their eldest son, Re’em. The former hostage announced the news on his Instagram account Friday morning.
Elkana was abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 and held captive by Hamas for 738 days. He returned to Israel last October and was reunited with Rebecca and Re’em. A few months later, the couple learned they were expecting another child and in April publicly announced the pregnancy.
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A little sister for Re’em. Elkana and Rebecca with their baby daughter
(Photo: From Elkana Bohbot’s Instagram account)
The birth also represents the closing of a family circle. During his father’s captivity, Re’em asked his mother why he did not have any siblings and said he wanted a sister. Rebecca explained that they had to wait for his father to come home.
Elkana said he thought about it while in the tunnels in Gaza as well.
“For two years, I ate my heart out there, especially in moments when I thought I wasn’t going to come back and felt bad that Re’em didn’t have a brother or sister. And here we are, thank God,” he said in a joint interview with Rebecca in Laisha magazine last June.
While his father was in captivity: Re’em Bohbot waited for his father, Elkana, with his mother, Rebecca
(Photo: Shalev Man)
Rebecca said she discovered she was pregnant shortly after Elkana returned and that when she told him, he “screamed with joy.” For the couple, the pregnancy took on particular symbolic significance after his captivity and the struggle to bring him home.
“I always said that our revival and victory was to bring life,” Rebecca said.
Elkana added: “It was a dream, a miracle. There is no greater victory than this.”