‘Wake up call’: Devastated dad of bloodied female Israeli in new horror Hamas kidnap vid reveals why he released footage
ONE of the heartbroken fathers who saw his bloodied teenage daughter in the hands of her Hamas captors has revealed why he released the chilling footage.
Sickening video shown around the world on Wednesday appears to show the five youngest women being held in Gaza facing rape threats by the twisted terrorists.
The brave female soldiers are being forced to sit on the floor terrified in the horrifying clips as the militants say you “can get pregnant” and “you are beautiful” to their blood-stained faces.
Despite him having to live with the pain and torment of seeing his 19-year-old child being toyed with, loving father Shlomi Berger says showcasing the horrors to the world is for the greater good.
Shlomi, dad to Agam Berger who can be seen with blood dripping from her mouth in the footage, claims the video should serve as a “wake up call to the world” to end the hostages’ nightmare.
It’s crazy as a father that my girl is in that situation and I can’t help her. I can’t do anything to help her
Shlomi Berger
He told the New York Post: “This is a wakeup call to the world. Look what we’re dealing with.
“You saw how many terrorists were in that video.
“You only see three minutes, but we know that they sat in the same place for two or three hours, and in front of their eyes they saw their friends that were murdered, on the floor.
“It’s crazy as a father that my girl is in that situation and I can’t help her. I can’t do anything to help her.”
The mother of hostage Liri Albag claims the footage was so hard to watch that she is one of the only mothers to have seen the video.
Agam and Liri were sat in pyjamas alongside three other women all handcuffed as they were surrounded by dozens of Hamas terrorists.
The footage had been edited by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) prior to it being released as they claim bodies were shown laying dead on the floor as the clip progressed.
Shlomi first saw the video in April alongside a group of families with links to the hostages still in the hands of the militants.
They decided to release the footage to send shockwaves across the globe showing the atrocities the hostages have been facing.
As they also used it to send a passionate plea to the Israeli government calling for hostage negations to start up again and finally be resolved.
Who is in the sickening footage?
IN the harrowing footage, five 19-year-old women can be seen in horrifying circumstances surrounded by Hamas terrorists.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the girls as:
- Liri Albag, 19
- Naama Levy, 19
- Daniela Gilboa, 19
- Karina Ariev, 19
- Agam Berger, 19
The video is believed to have been taken at the Nahal Oz base in southern Israeli after it was captured by Hamas back at the start of the horrific war in Gaza.
All five women were performing their compulsory military service at the base, which sits less than 1,000 yards from the now battered Gaza Strip.
Fifteen soldiers were slaughtered in the Hamas rampage on October 7, with six hostages being taken, according to The Times of Israel.
A joint statement read: “The video is a damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages, who have been forsaken for 229 days.
“The Israeli government must not waste even one more moment – it must return to the negotiating table today!”
Shlomi continued: “We did it because we feel and we see that there is no negotiation and everything is stuck and nothing is moving.
“And I don’t know, in this position, when I would see my daughter so we thought about it and decided this was the time to get it out because everybody should wake up, here, in Israel, and also the world.”
The families are pleading with mediators to resume talks and bring their children home as they now shared the most graphic photos of their daughters to date.
Naama’s brother, Amit Levy, 21, also told the BBC that he hopes the video will encourage both sides to “understand that it’s an unbearable humanitarian issue that needs to be solved”.
Amit labelled the video a “very hard watch”.
He said: “Seeing my little sister with such a look in her eyes. I never imagined I would see her this frightened and hurt.”
The day of the horror footage
The IDF altered the three minutes and ten seconds of footage before it went out as they protected the identities of the people who were killed.
As a result, some of the worst acts of brutality are not depicted.
It begins on October 7 at 9am, just a few hours after 1,200 innocent people were massacred by Hamas in southern Israel.
The frightened teens, still in their pyjamas and with their wrists tied behind their backs, attempt to communicate with the highly armed terrorists who are encouraging one another to “take pictures of them.”
A few of the terrorists may be seen praying on the ground next to the prisoners in one scene.
A gunmen shouts in Arabic at the women: “You dogs, we will step on you… we will shoot you all.”
What is happening with negotiations?
ISRAEL rejected a ceasefire proposal at the start of May as they pushed on with its long-threatened assault on Rafah despite having a chance to save more hostages.
There was a slither of hope of an agreement being met as senior Hamas officials announced they had accepted a ceasefire deal – sparking short-lived but loud celebrations across Gaza.
However, Israel rejected their proposal, saying it fell short of “core demands”.
An Israeli official described Hamas’s announcement as “a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal”.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu sent out a “very generous” offer calling for a 40-day truce with the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the most vulnerable of Israeli hostages.
The plan was backed by both Britain and the US.
But Hamas categorically refused to comply saying any agreement must involve the complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
They also called for a permanent end to the war.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected any such trade-off – vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed.
Hopes of a ceasefire now hang on by a thread with Israel already saying their Rafah offensive has led to several Hamas casualties.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns.”
The latest on the negotiations come as Israel’s war cabinet met for four hours on Thursday morning to discuss further negotiation deals.
The leadership instructed the negotiating team to push on with efforts to secure the release of the hostages, Israeli media reported.
Amit, who now advocates for the hostages, told MailOnline he felt ill after watching the sickening video.
He said: “It’s unbelievable that human beings are capable of treating other human beings this way.
“And what we should remember is that human beings from the same terror organisation are the ones holding them now for 230 days.”
At the end of the horror clip, the girls are seen being placed into a jeep and driven into Gaza. They are clearly hurt, in pain, and limping.
A horror scene where Naama’s tracksuit bottoms were bloodied and raised suspicions of abuse was included in the same series of footage.
HOSTAGE HORRORS
It comes as testimonies of alleged sexual abuse, rape, and torture have surfaced since captives were released as part of a brief truce agreement months ago.
Hamas refused to return some of the female hostages alerting people to the real horrors that have likely occured.
A United Nations probe looked into the potential sexual abuse of hostages and found many were subjected to rape and “sexualised torture” which may be continuing.
They found sex attacks happened at a minimum of three locations including the Nova music festival site.
Saying there is “clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” had been committed against hostages.
He told me, ‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay and have my children’
Noga Weiss
Speaking on The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots, Eylon Levy, former Israeli government spokesman, also accused Hamas of raping many of the female hostages.
Levy said: “We know that they are being starved and tortured and executed and raped in captivity.
“I’m tearing my hair out that people do not understand that right now.
“Hamas has been holding Israeli women as sex slaves in its dungeons for the past seven months.”
As 18-year-old Noga Weiss claims a captor proposed marriage and begged to start a family with her when she was being held alongside her mum.
A terrorist is said to have fallen in love with Noga before giving her a ring after just two-weeks.
She recalled: “He told me, ‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay and have my children’.”