The distraught mother of a teenager still held hostage in Gaza has made the painful decision to release footage of her begging for her life.
Daniela Gilboa, 19, was forced to film a sick propaganda video for Hamas. In the video, she is seen emaciated and scared, pleading, “I’m terrified for my life.”
She pleads with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “get their act together” and “bring us home alive” – but nearly six months later, Daniela remains in prison.
Today, her heartbroken mother, Orly Gilboa, 48, is calling on world leaders and diplomats to view the footage, telling them: “My daughter expects you to do everything you can 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 serving as an unarmed observer.
Daniela Gilboa, 19, was forced to film a sick propaganda video for Hamas (pictured above) in which she looks emaciated and scared as she pleads: ‘I’m terrified for my life’
She pleads with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “get their act together” and “bring us home alive” – but nearly six months later, Daniela (pictured before she was taken) remains in prison
Today, her heartbroken 48-year-old mother Orly Gilboa (pictured in Daniela’s bedroom) is calling on world leaders and diplomats to view the footage, telling them: ‘My daughter expects you to do everything you can 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 I was taken from my bed?” she says, as if it were months before she had seen daylight.
‘Where are you now? Why should I, as a soldier who gave 100 percent of myself to the country and served under such difficult circumstances in the Gaza Strip, feel abandoned and rejected by you?’
The footage was released in January, but due to a media blackout, the video could not be published because it involves a form of psychological warfare.
Her mother today rejected that request, saying the family “must make Israel and the world realize 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 abducted along with four other female observers on October 7.
“I have been in Hamas captivity for 107 days now and I don’t know when or if I will ever return home,” she says, dressed in a fluffy gray hoodie.
“I am being bombed and shot at constantly 24 hours a day. I am terrified for my life. At one point your bombs almost killed me.”
In a speech to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, she added: “Come on, my beloved government, and start doing your job well to bring us all home while we are still alive.
“I don’t need food, money, clothes or anything. Just get us home alive.”
She ends my conversation by addressing her parents, sister and boyfriend directly.
“To my dear family, I miss you so much and love you – Mom, Dad, Nuni and Roiko,” she said. “Please stay strong and do everything you can to bring me home while I’m still alive.”
It has now been some 170 days since the video was published and while there have been promising rumors of negotiations in recent weeks, a deal still seems a long way off.
Orly told the Daily Mail: ‘We are living in very critical times and I worry that people have forgotten Daniela.
The footage was released in January, but there was a media blackout preventing the video from being published, as 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 abducted along with four other female 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 from a video released on May 22, 2024.
While Daniela (pictured before she was taken hostage) appears “strong and determined,” psychological assessments indicate she is in a “poor mental state,” her mother said
The Daily Mail previously highlighted their plight along with 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 want Israel and the world to remember again that there are 120 hostages waiting for us to come and rescue them.
‘This was very difficult for me to do. I can’t watch this footage, just hearing her makes me so upset.
“But I’m not important, the only thing that matters is Daniela’s release and bringing her back home – and I will do anything for her.”
Although the teenager appears “strong and determined,” psychological assessments of the images show she is in a “poor mental state,” her mother said.
“She looks strong and assertive, but she’s not really. She’s acting there – I could see it in her eyes.”
Orly said she burst into tears when her daughter spoke directly to her family. “It was emotional at first, but I was able to listen to her.
‘But the moment she talks to us, her parents, her sister, her boyfriend – at that moment I just cried. I couldn’t hear what she said after that.
“It was very hard, very hard to see her. All this happened 170 days ago. So now I don’t even know how she is. We are very worried.”
Orly also said that Daniela was very “precise” in her appeal to Mr Netanyahu, saying: “She asks him to do everything to get her home.
“As a soldier, she gave 100 percent to Israel, and she expects Israel to give 100 percent to bring her home.”
Daniela filmed the video in January together with another bystander, Karina Ariev, also 19 years old.
The Daily Mail previously highlighted their plight, along with other hostages Agam Berger and Liri Albag, both 19, in a compelling article shown at the UN.
Under the haunting headline “Don’t Forget Them,” the story showed harrowing images of the four girls, who were taken away just hours after they were captured by Hamas.
It has become a symbol of the campaign demanding the release of all remaining hostages.