Both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have released footage of two Israeli hostages starving to death in Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
The hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are at an “immediate risk of death” due to starvation, according to a report released Monday by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum report described in a press release by the group representing relatives of most of the 50 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza said the policy of starving the hostages is intentional.
Hamas released the footage of Evyatar David, 24, on Saturday, drawing strong condemnation from Israel and Western leaders, the BBC reported. “He’s a human skeleton. He was being starved to the point where he can be dead at any moment, and he suffers a great deal. He barely can’t speak, he barely can move,” David’s brother Ilay said in an interview on Monday to the BBC. In the video, Evyatar says: “I haven’t eaten for days… I barely got drinking water.” He is seen digging what he says will be his own grave.
The footage of Evyatar was released after Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video of another hostage, Rom Braslavski, thin and crying, the BBC noted. In the clip, Yedioth Achronot reported that Rom Braslavski says he has been held in Gaza for two years and describes deteriorating health and extreme hunger. “I’m suffering so much—my foot looks terrible. Yesterday I barely had a plate of rice. I can’t breathe, I can’t live,” he says. “Three falafel balls is what I ate today.”
According to the report, both men were abducted from the Nova music festival during the October 7th massacre. The BBC added that they are among 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
According to assessments, hostage Evyatar David has dropped from a weight of 76 kg to an estimated current weight of approximately 40-45 kg – representing a decline of about 41% of his body weight, Arutz Sheva reported. According to the report, hostage Rom Braslavski has dropped from an estimated weight of 65 kg to a current estimated weight of approximately 43-47 kg – representing a decline of about 31%. Arutz Sheva stressed that both are in a state of being severely underweight, facing the risk of multisystem failure.
Arutz Sheva reported that the data was examined by experts from the Health Team of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, including Prof. Hagai Levine, Head of the Health Team; Dr. Einat Yehene, clinical neuropsychologist and rehabilitation psychologist; and Prof. Ronit Endevelt, former Head of the Nutrition Division at the Ministry of Health. According to the report, the clinical assessments were based on professional analysis of visual documentation, testimonies from released hostages, and accumulated medical data from previous reports.
Ilay David said his father had barely recognized his son Evyatar’s voice on the video and had not been able to sleep. He said his mother cried all day, the BBC reported. “Seeing those images of my brother as a human skeleton, we understood it’s, it’s, it’s a new kind of cruelty,” Mr David told the BBC. “It’s the lowest you can get.” He called on world leaders to unite to save him and other hostages “from the cruel, twisted hands of Hamas. So we have to be so focused on delivering the message, which is, Evyatar is dying, we need to give him medicine, to give him food, proper food, and you need to get this treatment now, or else he will die.”
Ofir Bravlavski, Rom’s father, told Yedioth Achronot that he does not understand how the world can sit back and watch this happen: “I don’t understand how they can sit quietly. Anyone who understands the situation knows we’re talking about a matter of days—Rom is dying, dying in pain.”
Photo from The Economic Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwcCmXg5VEk
