In two new statements facilitated yesterday by B’nai B’rith International at the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), an Israeli Bedouin family member of hostages held for nearly six months by Hamas in Gaza and a young survivor of the terrorists’ massacre at the Nova music festival last Oct. 7 spoke of their harrowing ordeal.

In his video statement broadcast at the UNHRC in Geneva during its main yearly session, Bashir Alziadna said, in Arabic, “I am the nephew of Youssef and the cousin of Hamza who have been held as hostages by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza for 172 days.”

“They were kidnapped on October 7th while working in agriculture in Kibbutz Holit. The kidnapping took place as part of a brutal assault which caused the unfortunate death of 1,200 people, including my cousin Abed Alrahman and his wife. In total, 17 civilians from the Bedouin society were killed on that day, and six were kidnapped. All of them are peaceful people who wished for a permanent solution, and never wished that anyone, either Israeli or Palestinian, would be harmed. The Bedouin community in Israel is devastated by the attack of October 7th. We won’t be able to recover until all the hostages return home—until we can see them, until we can hold them.”

He prayed that the situation be resolved during this Islamic holy month of Ramadan and that all the hostages be brought home.

In a separate video message in English, Nova festival survivor Noam Mazal Ben David said, “I came to the Nova festival on October 7th in order to paint. My partner, David Yair Shalom Newman, came with me. Just before 6 A.M. everyone was on the dance floor and it was tremendously powerful. All of a sudden, we heard rocket fire and interceptions. There were bursts of automatic gunfire, RPGs and grenades all around us. We saw people falling. It was like a horror movie.”

“When the gunfire got closer, we jumped into the dumpster and put our heads down. I was scared to death. We tried to stay quiet and unnoticed, but a terrorist spotted us. David threw me towards the edge of the dumpster and told me to hide. I buried myself into the garbage. We were 16 people [there] for four and a half hours. I cannot describe the fear. I heard ‘Allahu Akbar’ and the first terrorist shot three bullets into David’s chest. I heard his last breath. I wanted to jump and rescue him but another volley of shots began and I was shot in the pelvis.”

She concluded, “Only four of us in the dumpster survived. I feel David with me every moment. Thousands of innocent Israelis like me are wounded and disabled because of the crimes of Hamas on October 7th.”

B’nai B’rith’s Office of United Nations Affairs appreciates the bravery of these civilians for speaking critical truths to power at the U.N., and thanks the Hostages and Missing Family Forum and the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem for their cooperation in this endeavor.

Previously, B’nai B’rith organized UNHRC statements from Aviva Siegel, a freed Israeli hostage whose husband, Keith, remains in Palestinian captivity, and from Ofri Bibas, a close family member of four abducted civilians —Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and the youngest hostage, one-year-old Kfir.

It is past time for the international community to put an end to the terrorism that perpetuates conflict and endless suffering in the Middle East and beyond.

Watch Noam Mazal Ben David’s video statement here.