1939 or 2025: Video seen in Times Square showing former starved hostages during release

The video shows freed hostages, Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi, on the Hamas stage in Gaza, looking frail.

 From left to right: Former hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami. (photo credit: Canva, REUTERS/Hatem Khaled, REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)
From left to right: Former hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami.
(photo credit: Canva, REUTERS/Hatem Khaled, REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)

A video showing the three recently released hostages with the words “Hamas are savages” and “Israeli hostages starved and tortured by Hamas” was recently shown in New York’s Times Square.

Social media shared footage of the video showing the frail and extremely malnourished hostages, Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi, on a stage in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, just before Hamas handed them over to the Red Cross.

“Hamas tortured, starved, and brutalized the Israeli hostages,” an Instagram post said. “Their suffering is unimaginable... 1939 or 2025?”

The post quoted Israeli Consul-General in New York Ofir Akunis as saying: “Hamas are the successors of the Nazis. These images are the clear and unequivocal proof of that. Our forces found Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, in Hamas headquarters. Hamas, like the Nazis, call for and act toward the destruction of the Jewish people.”

 Israeli hostages Ohad Ben Ami, Eliyahu Sharabi and Or Levy stand on stage flanked by Hamas militants during the official handover in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (credit: Youssef Alzanoun/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli hostages Ohad Ben Ami, Eliyahu Sharabi and Or Levy stand on stage flanked by Hamas militants during the official handover in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (credit: Youssef Alzanoun/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)

The released hostages

Sharabi, Ben Ami, and Levy crossed the border into Israeli territory on Saturday after 491 days in captivity, leaving 76 hostages, both dead and alive, remaining in the Gaza Strip.

According to initial medical examinations at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, the former hostages were in serious condition and may have lost about 30% of their overall weight.