Starving, Terrified And Trapped In Gaza Tunnels – What This Israeli Hostage Said On Camera That Has Shaken The Nation, Cornered Netanyahu
Barely holding back tears, 24-year-old Evyatar David stared at the camera and said, 'What I am doing now is digging my own grave. Every day my body becomes weaker and weaker. I am walking directly to my grave. There is the grave where I am going to be buried in. Time is running out to be released and be able to sleep in my bed with my family.'
Released by Hamas, the video showed David and fellow hostage Rom Braslavski, a 21-year-old German-Israeli dual national, visibly malnourished and mentally drained. It was the third such clip in a week. Their sunken faces and trembling hands became the lead story in every Israeli newspapers, including Hebrew-language daily Maariv, which called it a look into 'hell in Gaza'.
Israel's largest paid newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth described David as 'malnourished, emaciated and desperate'. Haaretz did not mince words. 'Netanyahu is in no rush,' read its headline, capturing what many in Israel now believe that politics is outweighing lives.
David's family issued a gut-wrenching statement. 'The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen. He is being starved purely to serve Hamas's propaganda,' they said.
The footage did not only rattle the Israeli society. It shook the prime minister himself. Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed he had watched the video and spoken to the families of both captives. The statement from his office described the prime minister as being in a state of 'profound shock'.
That conversation with the families, according to the prime minister's office, came with reassurances, 'The efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing.'
The images sparked appeals. Netanyahu reached out to Julien Lerisson, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in the region, and pleaded for help.
'Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the head of the Red Cross delegation in our region… and requested his involvement in providing food to our hostages and providing them with immediate medical treatment,' said the official statement.
World leaders echoed that urgency. The European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X, 'Appalling. These images expose the barbarity of Hamas.'
She further said, 'All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza.'
Despite France's recent criticism for announcing to recognize Palestine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the hostage videos 'despicable' and 'unbearable'. His statement added to the mounting pressure, 'They must be freed, without conditions. Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from ruling Gaza.'
As night deepened in Tel Aviv, 60,000 lives weighed heavily on Israeli consciousness, the estimated number of Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel's relentless airstrikes and ground offensives. Most of the casualties are believed to be women and children.
On the other side, October 7, 2023, remains etched in blood. Around 1,200 people died in Hamas's surprise assault on southern Israel. Around 250 were taken hostage. Of those, 49 remain in captivity. The Israeli military believes 27 of them may no longer be alive.
Truce pauses in late 2024 and early this year saw the return of 100 to 150 hostages. For the families of those still underground, every tick of the clock now lands like a blow.
Time is running out not only for David and Braslavski, but for the soul of a nation waiting to breathe again.
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