Family condemns Hamas video of emaciated hostage

The family of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, held by Hamas in Gaza since their bloody attack in Israel on 7 October 2023, has accused the group of deliberately starving him as part of a “propaganda campaign”.

- EMILY ROSE IN JERUSALEM

The family statement came after Hamas released a video showing an emaciated Mr David in a narrow concrete tunnel.

“We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza - a living skeleton, buried alive,” the family statement said.

The hostage's family also urged the Israeli government and the world community to do “everything possible to save Evyatar”.

Hamas released its second video in two days of Mr David, 24, over the weekend. In it, Mr David, who is very thin, is shown digging a hole, which, he says in the video, is for his own grave.

Mr David is heard saying: “I haven't eaten for days... I barely got drinking water.”

“They are on the absolute brink of death,” David's brother, Ilay, said at a rally in support of the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday, where thousands gathered holding posters of those in captivity and chanted for their immediate release.

“In the current unimaginable condition, they may have only days left to live.”