The days of anguish have not ceased for the family of Elkana Bohbot. The Israeli, a Colombian national, was kidnapped in the middle of the Hamas terrorist group's attack on Israel.
Bohbot, who is married to a woman from Bogotá and has a three-year-old son, was last seen in a video that Hamas recorded in October 2023.. After almost four months, there is no information about him. This February 21, President Gustavo Petro announced that he will seek his release.
(In context: President Petro says he will seek the release of Elkana Bohbot, kidnapped by Hamas).
The Colombian-Israeli, 34, was the owner of an ice cream parlor in Tel Aviv. However, on October 7 he went to work on logistics at the Supernova electronic music festival near the Gaza Strip, where the sound of gunshots extinguished the party.
Terrorists raided the event, killing more than 250 people, according to a report from Israeli authorities. Among the victims is the Colombian couple Ivonne Rubio and Antonio Macías.
In the midst of the confusion of that day, Bohbot managed to communicate with his wife, Rebecca González. “I'm fine, I'm helping get people out of here,” he assured the Colombian, who in her house in Israel saw on the news how the attendees were trying to escape. That was the last time she heard her voice.
Hours later, a friend of Bohbot, who was able to flee the scene, called González to alert her to a video that Hamas had published on the Telegram network: they had recorded her husband subdued on the ground, with his face beaten and next to others kidnapped.
Uriel Bohbot, brother of the Israeli, also saw that audiovisual piece. “I recognized him immediately because of his blonde hair and I thought 'My God,'” he recalled to the newspaper. The Sun.
Since then, they have had no other test of survival. Reem, his three-year-old son, asks González questions, because she doesn't understand why Bohbot hasn't hugged him and played with him again.
“Waking up every day for me is waking up on the same date of October 7, where this whole nightmare began, with the same pain, with the same anguish and uncertainty… my life and my time have been frozen while everyone else's lives continue,” González wrote in a recent letter.
(Read: The moving letter from the Colombian whose husband Hamas kidnapped).
“Why you? An exemplary father, a good and peace-loving man, who always welcomed every human being into his life, regardless of their religion, race, culture or political position. They took from you what you love so much… freedom, seeing the sun in the morning, seeing your child grow,” said the Colombian.
Netanyahu's request to President Petro
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, sent a letter to President Gustavo Petro in January 2024, asking him to “make all possible efforts to ensure the release of Elkana (Bohbot) and the other 135 hostages held in the tunnels.” Hamas terrorists.
The Colombian president responded to the letter, telling Netanyahu that Bohbot had been granted nationality “in order to facilitate his release.”
“This Government is advancing efforts at the highest level, in order to allow Mr. Bohbot's safe return home and the reunification of his family,” he added.
In addition, he called on the Government of Israel to “immediately cease hostilities” and advance in peace talks in order to “end the violence unleashed between Israel and Palestine.”
(More: Colombia accuses Israel of violating international law due to occupation in Palestine).
This February 21, through social networks, President Petro shared a photograph next to Rebecca González and her son Reem, whom he received at the Casa de Nariño to reaffirm their position: “I will seek the release of the Colombian/Israeli citizen Elkana Bohbot.”
I will seek the release of Colombian/Israeli citizen Elkana Bohbot. His wife, Colombian Geraldyn (Rebecca) Gonzales de Bohbot, asked us for help in achieving her release. pic.twitter.com/KlvLyfn22w
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 22, 2024
With the announcement of the efforts, “when will you return?” is the question the family hopes to resolve.
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