Hamas thugs ordered Israeli hostage to stage her own death in propaganda video and covered her in dust and debris to make it look like she had been hit in IDF missile strike, her mother reveals

Former hostage Daniella Gilboa was forced by her Hamas captors to record a video faking her death in a propaganda effort that sparked distressing rumors about her fate, her mother revealed.   

Orly Gilboa, Daniella’s mother, told the Mail that ‘one of the terrorists came to her with a camera and told her: ‘Daniella, I must take a picture of you, like you are dead.’

‘She started to cry, begging him not to do it, but he told her: “No, it’s something they asked me to do and we’re doing it.”‘

Held in squalid tunnels dozens of feet underground under the watch of armed extremists, Daniella had no choice. ‘She did what she had to do,’ her mother told the Mail in Tel Aviv.

According to her mother, Daniella pleaded for her life, begging the militants not to proceed with the deception. 

Still, they covered her in powder and debris to simulate injuries from an Israeli airstrike in an attempt to make it appear as if she had been hit.

The footage later circulated, fueling speculation that she had been killed. The staged video was released alongside claims from Hamas that an Israeli hostage had died due to Israeli military operations.

‘When she saw me and my husband for the first time after her release, she apologised for how she caused us to feel this whole time,’ Orly said, describing the emotional toll the video had taken on the family. 

Today the family have given the Mail permission to share the sickening photograph of her ‘death’ for the first time to expose the terror group’s evil.

But the picture nearly destroyed them. ‘It was the first time ever that I took a pill,’ the mother, from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, said. 

Terrorists filmed Daniella Gilboa, 20, playing dead under a white funeral cloth and then shared the image stating she had been killed in an IDF airstrike

Last month a hostage deal was signed and Daniella walked out alive in the second set of releases. Pictured: Daniella, left, with her tattoo on show 

Daniella Gilboa was seen in a Hamas video released in January last year which showed her appearing distressed and dishevelled 

Daniella in a Hamas propaganda clip published January 26, 2024

Released Israeli hostage Daniella Gilboa is welcomed as she arrives home from hospital after being released from captivity in Gaza in January

The image, though blurred, showed a tattoo resembling one of Daniella’s, leading many to believe she really had been killed. 

Her face was covered but cruelly they intentionally zoomed in on her tattoo with a bar of music under the aspiring musician’s right elbow. 

It led her parents Orly, 49, and Ran, 53, to fear the worst – but incredibly the couple never lost faith and prayed for a miracle.

At the time, Israeli officials condemned the video as part of Hamas’ ongoing psychological warfare tactics. 

Then last month a hostage deal was signed and Daniella walked out alive in the second set of releases. 

Daniella was one of seven female soldiers abducted from the IDF surveillance unit at the Nahal Oz base during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. 

The massacre saw approximately 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

Among the seven, Ori Megidish was later rescued alive by Israeli forces, while the body of another soldier, Noa Marciano, was recovered after she was killed in captivity. 

Karina Ariev, left, and Daniela Gilboa with Doron Steinbrecher. In the five-minute clip, allegedly filmed on January 21, the women are forced to blame Israel for the war

Daniella was freed in January alongside four other other hostages – Liri Albag, Naama Levy, Agam Berger, and Karina Ariev.

The freed hostages, who are all soldiers, were met by dozens of masked and armed Hamas and fellow Islamic Jihad militants before being handed to the Red Cross on January 25.

The women were brought onto a stage after exiting the vehicle, as they beamed with joy and relief and waved to the crowds.

The four women were then transported to the border of Gaza, where a helicopter waited for them, and were then taken to Re’im, in Israel, before being transported to hospital to receive medical checks.

Her parents, who changed her name from Danielle to Daniella while she was in captivity after a Rabbi advised it would give her spiritual protection, greeted her on the border.

An emotional picture shows Orly smothering her eldest daughter with kisses as she completely breaks down on meeting her.

‘I hugged her, and when I let go, I saw that her entire shirt was soaked with my tears,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever cried like that in my life.’

Since she was freed, details have emerged on how Daniella was forcibly starved inside, only receiving food in the days before her release so she would appear healthier on release.

Israeli soldiers Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa (right) 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 screen grab taken from a video released on May 22, 2024

Released Israeli hostage Daniella Gilboa, a soldier who was seized from her army base in southern Israel during the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, is embraced by her parents after being released

Israeli hostage Daniella Gilboa, gestures as she leaves a military helicopter upon landing at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva on January 25, 2025

This undated photo provided by Hostages Family Forum shows Daniella Gilboa, who was abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023

She still had a bullet in her leg from when she was shot on October 7 having never received proper medical care.

Daniella was also forced to eat donkey food, beaten for weeks until she was near death, and made to drink filthy water that made her sick.

Her family have shared the horrifying details to keep pressure up to release the remaining 76 hostages still in captivity.

Following the release, in a statement on X, Daniella’s family said: ‘Our Daniela Noushi survived 477 days in hell in Gaza and how she has returned to a family embrace with us!’.

On being reunited with her parents, the talented singer apologised for the anguish the photograph caused when it was spread on Telegram last November. 

The current ceasefire agreement, implemented in January, halted more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. 

So far, 21 hostages, including civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals, have been released. 

However, 73 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with the IDF confirming that at least 35 of them are no longer alive.

It comes as the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued a chilling threat to the remaining hostages in Gaza in a brazen warning to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid fears the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel could break down.

‘The fate of the prisoners (hostages) held by the resistance is directly tied to Netanyahu’s actions, for better or worse,’ the Al-Quds Brigades said in a video statement posted on its Telegram channel.

Israeli hostages Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Liri Albag and Daniella Gilboa take part in an event where music is played for them and for the support to the release of all other hostages taken during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, at the Beilinson Schneider complex in Petah Tikva, Israel, February 4, 2025

Gilboa was a surveillance soldier in the Israeli army who was taken captive on October 7, 2023 and held hostage in Gaza

Daniella was released last month after the start of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire

It follows Netanyahu threatening to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to release Israeli captives held in the territory by Saturday.

A sixth hostage-prisoner exchange was scheduled for Saturday, but earlier this week Hamas had announced it was postponing the upcoming release, citing Israel’s failure to allow the entry of key humanitarian aid into Gaza.

‘We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them,’ Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida wrote, referring to Israel.

With the United States a key party in mediating the ceasefire, Donald Trump backed Israel and said ‘I would say let hell break out’ unless ‘all’ of the remaining 76 hostages are released by midday on Saturday.

Hamas has previously released propaganda videos of hostages as part of its psychological tactics, a practice condemned internationally. 

The Israeli government has repeatedly called for the unconditional release of all remaining hostages and has vowed to continue its operations until they are safely returned.

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