Hamas released a propaganda video Friday showing Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage captured during the October 7, 2023 attack at the Supernova music festival. The footage reveals David in severely weakened condition after more than 15 months in captivity, with a second video showing him claiming his captors forced him to dig his own grave.
Following family approval, the complete video was made public on Saturday. Additionally, the family authorized release of a second video dated July 27, which shows David in an even more deteriorated state. David’s relatives issued a heartbreaking statement describing their son and brother as deliberately malnourished by his captors.
“We are compelled to watch our cherished son and brother, Evyatar David, intentionally and callously deprived of food in Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza—reduced to skin and bones, entombed while still breathing,” the family’s statement declared.
The relatives emphasized the urgency of David’s situation, warning he has minimal time remaining given his deteriorated state. They characterized Hamas’s treatment as using their son for a cruel starvation experiment as part of their media strategy.
The family condemned the “deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign” as among “the most horrifying acts the world has seen,” stating he is being starved “purely to serve Hamas’s propaganda.” They characterized Hamas’s actions as “using Evyatar as a live experiment in a grotesque hunger campaign.”
They stressed that the intentional starvation, torture, and mistreatment of David violates fundamental humanitarian principles and basic human dignity standards. The family also called on media outlets to exercise greater responsibility in their coverage.
David’s family made urgent appeals to multiple parties, including the Israeli government, Israeli citizens, the global community, and U.S. President Donald Trump, requesting they “do everything possible to save Evyatar from death” and ensure he immediately receives nutrition and medical attention.
The statement emphasized that humanitarian assistance provided to Gaza residents by the international community and Israel should also reach their son. The family expressed their anguish, saying they are “in pain and we weep” with no bounds to their suffering.
In the July 27 video, David appears visibly gaunt and weakened as he describes his desperate situation. Speaking what were likely words dictated by his captors, he explains that he has been deprived of adequate food and water for an extended period. “I don’t know what I’m going to eat. I haven’t eaten in days,” David states in the footage. “I’ve been living in a really difficult situation and have been for many months.”
David’s physical deterioration is evident as he speaks. “I’m getting thinner and weaker by the day,” he says, adding details about his minimal diet: “No meat, no chicken, no fish. Almost no bread. On Friday, July 4, I didn’t eat anything. I’m writing everything down,” he explains, referring to a food chart he has been keeping.
Reading from his documented record, David lists the meager provisions: “Lentils, lentils, beans. On July 16 and 17 I ate nothing—two days in a row. Then more lentils, again lentils. On July 20, nothing again. Then lentils, and again nothing. Then again nothing, and again nothing. This can is for two days, just to keep me alive.”
In a particularly disturbing revelation, David claims his captors forced him to dig his own grave. “What I’m doing now is digging my own grave,” he states. “Each day, my body grows weaker and weaker. I’m walking directly to my grave. This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried in.”
David makes an emotional direct appeal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the video. “I feel that I have been abandoned… I’ve been told that in Israel, the government cares for prisoners, and care for anyone imprisoned by the enemy. I feel that I have been abandoned by you and this government,” he says. “Everything I was taught was simply not true.”
He concludes with an urgent plea: “Time is running out. You are the only ones who can end this, [so I can] be released and be able to sleep in my bed with my family.”
Former captive Liri Albag responded emotionally to the video on social media, writing about her distress at seeing evidence of life from both Rom and Evyatar just before her Friday evening meal, knowing she had food available while remembering her fellow captives’ circumstances.
Albag reflected on her fortune in returning home six months earlier while acknowledging that her “brothers” remain in captivity, describing the realization as crushing.
On Thursday, Palestinian Islamic Jihad released propaganda footage of hostage Rom Braslavski, also captured on October 7. The organization claimed the recording was made days before allegedly losing contact with Braslavski’s captors the previous week, with his current status unknown.
The Braslavski family expressed their shock in response, asking those discussing hunger in Gaza whether they had witnessed their son Rom’s condition. They noted he receives neither food nor medicine and has been abandoned in captivity.
“Six minutes of video—that’s all it took for Rom to break on camera. But Rom has been there for 664 days. They must all be brought home now,” the family stated.
In February, both Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were brought to witness the release of three hostages—Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliyah Cohen—in what Hamas staged as a cynical ceremony. The footage shows the two men sitting inside a Hamas vehicle parked beside the stage where the three hostages stood before their release. In the cruel footage, Evyatar pleads, “Please, save us, please, bring us home. I just want to go home, I’m begging you, I’m begging.” He adds: “Help us, people of Israel, get us out. We want to be like them.”
Following that incident, Evyatar’s brother Ilay David spoke about maintaining hope despite the circumstances. He described his brother’s horrific conditions: “My brother is in the worst possible place. In a tunnel, with no light, no bathroom. He eats next to the hole he uses to relieve himself. There’s nothing worse than that. So what more could they possibly do to him? Every day he’s there is a nightmare.”
Despite the anguish, Ilay emphasized his commitment to bringing his brother home: “I’ll do anything to bring Evyatar back. This is the mission of my life. All the pain, the longing, the frustration—they all come second.” He envisioned his brother embracing their parents emotionally and imagined resuming their weekly music sessions together.
Ilay emphasized his belief that Evyatar clings to similar hopes and stressed the importance of not losing faith. He called for sending prayers, hope, strength, and energy to help the hostages maintain their will to survive until their eventual return.
Friday morning witnessed a demonstration by relatives of the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza at Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” under the slogan “Never Again.”
The families demanded immediate action, stating: “This is the time for a comprehensive deal and an end to the war. No more delays. No more leaving them behind. Stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels. Bring them home!”
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met with the families, who had established a barbed-wire encampment to highlight their desperate situation and draw public attention to their ongoing ordeal.
