Liran Berman and Ilay David addressed the UN Human Rights Council, asking for help to bring the Israeli hostages home from Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
The Jerusalem Post reported recently that relatives of hostages held in Gaza recently released video statements to the UN Human Rights Council. According to the report, the videos were presented to the UN Human Rights Council under the category of “involuntary disappearances.”
Liran Berman, representing the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, said, “My life is on hold, I exist only as the brother of two hostages,” referring to Gali and Ziv Berman, who were taken on October 7.
“Gali and Ziv were torn apart, held in darkness, denied food, medicine, and dignity,” Berman said, the Jerusalem Post reported. “Each day in captivity robs them of health, hope, and humanity.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, he urged UN member states to act. “The world has failed them for two birthdays,” he said. “Use every tool, every form of pressure, every channel of diplomacy to demand their release.”
Ilay David addressed the condition of his brother, Evyatar David: “I speak on behalf of the World Jewish Congress. My name is Ilay David and I am the older brother of the 24-year-old Evyatar David, who was kidnapped by the vicious organization Hamas on October 7th, 2023 from the Nova music festival.”
According to David, “Last month Hamas published another video of my younger brother, being emaciated, a human skeleton, buried alive in the tunnels of Gaza. Evyatar was barely able to move, barely able to speak, because Hamas brought him to a near death situation because of malnutrition.”
“Hamas uses my brother as a tool in their twisted and cruel propaganda, and he may die only because of that,” he noted. “The Red Cross has told us countless times that they can’t do anything to reach the hostages because Hamas wouldn’t allow it to happen”
According to David, “Right now, all the free world must unite to make sure that the humanitarian aid that flows into Gaza will reach the hostages as well. Right now the free world must make sure that the living hostages in Gaza will survive the negotiations until we have a resolution.”
The UN Human Rights Council recognizes the families of the hostages as victims of torture. UN Security Council Resolution 2474, adopted unanimously in 2019, obliges all parties in conflict to take all appropriate measures to account for the missing, enable the return of their remains, and to provide families with information on their loved ones’ fate. Failure to do so is a blatant violation of international law.
Photo from World Jewish Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOsmzd8v340
