The Families Forum has released a video depicting the capture of Israeli women troops during an incident on October 7th. This footage sheds light on the traumatic events faced by these soldiers and amplifies the families' calls for action to secure their safe return.

On Wednesday, an Israeli campaign group released footage showing five Israeli female soldiers being captured by Palestinian militants from a military base during Hamas's October 7 attack. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum released the footage after receiving permission from the soldiers' families.
 
The three-minute video shows the women sitting on the ground, some with blood on their faces and their hands tied, following their capture from the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel. The footage was taken from a two-hour body camera video filmed by Hamas militants during the attack, according to the campaign group.
 
"The footage reveals the violent, humiliating, and traumatizing treatment the girls endured on the day of their abduction, their eyes filled with raw terror," the forum said in a statement.
 
Towards the end of the clip, the women are seen being taken away in a military jeep amid screams. Sasha Ariev, sister of one of the seized soldiers, told AFP, "It's time to act, otherwise the blood of my sister and other hostages will be on the hands" of the Israeli authorities. She added, "Everyone has now seen these young girls taken captive in their pyjamas... the only victory is to bring them back quickly and alive."
 
The October 7 attack on the Nahal Oz base resulted in the deaths of more than 50 Israeli soldiers, 15 of whom were women. Seven female soldiers were taken hostage, one of whom has since been freed in an Israeli military operation, while the body of another was found and brought back to Israel.
 
Hamas claimed that the video footage was "manipulated" to support "false allegations" and "tarnish the image of the resistance." The Palestinian Islamist movement stated that some of the soldiers had minor injuries but denied any physical aggression against them.
 
Hamas's unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of over 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures compiled by AFP. Militants also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Israeli army says are dead.
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced intense pressure from the hostages' families to negotiate their return. On Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting Hamas to "ensure what we have seen tonight never happens again." His office later stated that the war cabinet had instructed the Israeli negotiating team to "continue negotiations for the return of the hostages."
 
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,709 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The Israeli military reports that 287 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of its ground offensive on October 27.
 
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