Mother of Gaza hostage is furious over mixed signals on how many captives are dead

JERUSALEM (AP) — Ruhama Bohbot was at home watching the news when she heard U.S. President Donald Trump say something new: Three of the 24 hostages Israel considered to be alive in Gaza had probably died.

“As of today, it’s 21, three have died,” Trump said during a swearing-in ceremony for his special envoy to the Middle East.

Bohbot, who lives outside of Jerusalem, froze in terror — and then fury. Her 36-year-old son, Elkana, has been captive in Gaza since being abducted by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023.

No Israeli officials have reached out to the Bohbot family to say the number of hostages believed to be alive had changed. Yet Bohbot thought back to a public event last week, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 24 of the hostages still in Gaza were alive. A mic picked up his wife, Sara, as she quietly said, “fewer.”

Later, Netanyahu’s office dismissed the moment as a slip of the tongue.

“So we’re just continuing to live in hope that everything will be OK ... even amidst all of the things that are not OK. Because it’s impossible to know,” Bohbot said.

Netanyahu said late Wednesday Israel was confident that 21 of the 59 remaining hostages are still alive but that there was “doubt” about three others. An Israeli official said the three, who he did not identify, are considered alive until there is evidence proving otherwise. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.

If there is “new information being kept from us, give it to us immediately,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group, said Wednesday.

Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 during their cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Elkana Bohbot and dozens of others were captured from a music festival, where more than 300 people were killed.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. The officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

Hamas has published three videos of Elkana Bohbot in the past months which were filmed under duress. In the most recent video, from mid-April, Elkana holds a fake telephone conversation with his wife, Rivka; their son, Raem; his mother; and his brother — pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza.

While the videos were a sign of life, Bohbot knows that they don’t guarantee that her son is still alive. Hearing the government’s approval this week to expand operations in Gaza deepened her concern about the fate of her son and the other hostages. Israel is “failing so utterly” to rescue the hostages, she said.

Israel’s decision to freeze all humanitarian aid likely meant her son also wasn’t getting food, she said. Humanitarian aid is the primary food source for 80% of Palestinians in Gaza, the World Food Program said in its monthly report for April, though that figure has likely risen in the past month.

Israel stopped all humanitarian aid in March, the longest period there has been a freeze on humanitarian aid during the war, leading many organizations to warn of severe malnutrition and hunger in Gaza.

“I just want to imagine that he’s holding on and that he’s okay for now, that’s my hope and that’s my belief right now,” she said.

Bohbot is desperately hoping that Trump’s visit to the region next week may bring a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations. Her family is still paying rent on a stall at a market in Tel Aviv, where Elkana had been planning to open a gourmet ice cream shop.

The family will mark Raem’s fifth birthday next month – his second during his father’s captivity. Raem has started saying things like “if my daddy comes home,” to which the family gently corrects him – “your daddy is coming home, just wait a little bit longer,” Bohbot said.

“He has binoculars that he made in kindergarten, he goes out occasionally and takes a look in the binoculars to look for his father,” Bohbot said.

A painting of Elkana Bohbot, who was abducted and brought to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, is hung in his family's hometown of Mevaseret Zion, Israel, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Hebrew reads, "There is no price for freedom." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 3, 2025.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, poses for a portrait at home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, has a picture of her son on display at her home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

President Donald Trump speaks before Steve Witkoff is sworn as special envoy during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, poses for a portrait with his poster at her home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)M

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reached a confidential settlement Friday in a lawsuit over the drug overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

The decision to settle was reached after a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the Angels should be held responsible for Skaggs’ 2019 death after he snorted a fentanyl-laced pill provided by the team’s communications director, Eric Kay.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents filed the lawsuit alleging the MLB team knew or should have known Kay was a drug addict and dealing painkillers to players. The settlement closes a painful six-year process, the Skaggs family said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful to the members of this jury, and to our legal team,” the family said in the statement. "Their engagement and focus gave us faith, and now we have finality. This trial exposed the truth and we hope Major League Baseball will now do its part in holding the Angels accountable. While nothing can bring Tyler back, we will continue to honor his memory.”

The team has contended officials didn’t know Skaggs was taking drugs and would have sought him help if they did.

“The death of Tyler Skaggs remains a tragedy, and this trial sheds light on the dangers of opioid use and the devastating effects it can have," the team said in a statement Friday.

Jurors began deliberating earlier this week.

Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover thanked jurors for their diligence. “That is why this matter was able to be resolved today,” she said, before releasing them.

Six years ago, the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019.

In California, MLB players including outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president John Carpino, and Skaggs’ and Kay’s relatives testified during the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom. Witnesses for the plaintiffs described how Kay was acting erratic at the stadium and found with multiple plastic bags filled with pills at his home and later hospitalized for a drug overdose. They also recounted how Kay got players massage appointments, tee times and even prescription medication, and was paid by players for stunts like taking a fastball to the leg.

Angels attorneys pointed out that Skaggs was hooked on painkillers before he signed with the Angels in 2013. They said Skaggs got his teammates into taking pills and got Kay to provide them, but kept it secret out of concern it could jeopardize their MLB careers. Had team officials known Kay was dealing drugs, or Skaggs was taking them, they would have done something, the lawyers said.

Witnesses also sparred during the case over how much money Skaggs would have made as a pitcher had he lived. Experts for the plaintiffs said he could have reeled in between $91 million and $101 million, while the Angels put the figure at no more than $32 million.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

Rusty Hardin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, welcomed the settlement and said the amount remains confidential. Hardin said there were rules in place and the Angels ignored them.

“The changes need to be by teams like the Angels who let this happen,” Hardin said.

Before the judge announced the settlement Friday, jurors had remained behind closed doors after lawyers for both sides had gone to speak with Colover.

Late Wednesday, jurors had sent out a note asking whether they “get to decide the punitive damage amount,” saying there is no field for it on the verdict form. The judge said she would send a note replying that if they decide there should be punitive damages, they would decide how much at a later time.

The jury did not work on Thursday and resumed deliberations Friday morning.

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Judge H. Shaina Colover listens as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorneys listen as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this June 29, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to an Oakland Athletics batter during a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)