4-8-2025
New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war.
The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavski writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand.
The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months.
“In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,” Braslavski’s mother, Tami, said in a statement.
The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory.
Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive.
Hamas’ military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a “regular and permanent manner” in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages “eat the same food as our fighters and the general public” and denied any intentional starvation of them.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said.
Meanwhile Western leaders have expressed outrage over recently the videos.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the footage as “sickening,” saying, “images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening,” and reiterated the UK’s call for their “unconditional” release.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the videos a reflection of Hamas’ “abject cruelty,” and stressed that France continues to fight for their release, a ceasefire and increased humanitarian access.
“The absolute priority for France is the immediate release of all the hostages,” Macron said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “appalled” and reiterated that the release of all hostages must precede any ceasefire agreement. “Israel will not reciprocate Hamas’ cynicism and must continue to provide humanitarian aid,” Merz added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who returned from a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday, also stated he was shocked by the “perfidy” of the hostages’ “tormentors”.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas slammed the images as “appalling and exposing the barbarity of Hamas”, calling for the release of “all hostages … immediately and unconditionally”. With agency reports
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