Former hostage Eliyah Cohen spoke with Channel 12 on Tuesday evening about his harrowing ordeal in captivity.

During the interview, he revealed that Raz Bukovza, H’yd, who was abducted from the Nova party and was placed with him and three other hostages on the back of the terrorists’ pickup truck for the trip to Gaza, tried to escape.

“I remember him saying: ‘I’m jumping,’ Eliya said. “We tried to convince him not to but he jumped out of the vehicle on the way to Gaza. The terrorists stopped and shot him to death. We continued as if nothing had happened.”

Raz’s brother, Ofek Bukovza, responded to Eliya’s testimony about his brother’s final moments by saying: “Eliyah was by Raz’s side in the last five minutes of his life, but for us – it’s a whole world.”

Ofek told Ynet that his family was exposed on the day of the massacre to footage that was filmed on a dashcam showing Raz’s murder. Ofek added that the family would like to hear more details from Eliyah and Or Levy, another released hostage who was also with Raz in the pickup truck.

“There were five on the vehicle – only four arrived in Gaza,” he said. “Two of them returned from captivity. Every additional detail about Raz’s last moments is very important to us.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)