Hamas releases video of starving, skeletally thin Israeli hostage

In the video, Hamas forces Israeli hostage hostage Evyatar David to dig what he believes is his own grave. Hamas says it won’t disarm until a Palestinian state is established

TEL AVIV,— Hamas has released another disturbing hostage video as it reiterated its refusal to disarm without the creation of a Palestinian state. The release comes amid a breakdown in indirect ceasefire talks with Israel and mounting concern over the condition of captives held in Gaza.

In a video released on Saturday, Israeli hostage Evyatar David appears pale, skeletal, and shirtless, digging a shallow grave. He identifies it as his own. The footage, authorized for public release by his family, shows David marking days on a makeshift calendar deep within an underground tunnel. The group, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and several allies, included propaganda-style edits of starving Palestinian children alongside David’s suffering, implying a shared fate.

The footage was paired with a statement from Hamas officials, declaring they would not surrender their weapons until a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital. The message directly counters Israel’s key condition for ending hostilities in Gaza. Negotiators from Egypt and Qatar confirmed that recent efforts to broker a 60-day ceasefire have stalled with no new sessions scheduled.

David’s family responded to the video by demanding that international humanitarian aid entering Gaza also be used to sustain hostages. At a demonstration in Tel Aviv, his brother Ilay told supporters that time is running out. Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Hostages Square, waving photos and shouting calls for the captives’ immediate release. “They are starving to death,” Ilay said. “If the world is sending aid, it must reach the people Hamas is holding too.”

The Israel Defense Forces report that out of the 251 hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attack, 49 remain in captivity. Twenty-seven of those are presumed dead.

A Hamas militant (left) with a noticeably well-fed, muscular arm gives a can of food to Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who looks pale, emaciated, and shirtless. August 2025. Photo: Hamas video

The video ends with a stark black screen reading, “They eat what we eat. They drink what we drink,” a phrase widely seen as an attempt to equalize conditions between captors and hostages. However, recently released hostages have provided testimony that strongly contradicts those claims.

Omer Wenkert, who was held alongside David for more than 250 days, said that while he lost nearly 40 kilograms, his captors appeared well-fed. “Hamas is stealing aid. I never saw any of them lose weight,” Wenkert told supporters. “This is psychological warfare. They’re starving hostages while posing for the world as victims.”

Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy to the region, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week and expressed support for a comprehensive hostage-ceasefire agreement.

On Friday, he visited an aid center operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is jointly supported by Israel and the U.S. Witkoff told the families of hostages that the U.S. would no longer pursue “piecemeal deals” and now supports a single binding agreement that includes hostage release and a halt to fighting.

Just one day earlier, Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a similar video of another hostage, Rom Braslavski. He, too, appeared emaciated and mentally strained. His sister, Yaelah, published a statement condemning the release as manipulative and inhumane.

“Hamas is not ISIS,” she said. “They’re worse. They’re holding civilians as bargaining chips and starving both hostages and Gazans for media impact.”

According to released hostage Tal Shoham, the hostages were filmed constantly and threatened with instant death. He described an explosive device near the video camera, allegedly rigged to detonate in case of an IDF rescue attempt.

“They kept us underground for months. No empathy, no food, no sun. Just cameras and threats,” Shoham said.

Shoham said his fellow prisoners deteriorated to the point of silence. “Some days we didn’t talk. One of us didn’t speak for a week. You reach a point where your mind shuts off.”

David, just 22 when captured, was taken during the Nova Music Festival in Re’im. Eyewitnesses reported he stayed behind to help the injured. A video in February showed him pleading for help from either Netanyahu or President Trump. Alongside him was Guy Gilboa-Dalal, another hostage.

David’s family said he was known for his deep love of music and his unusual emotional insight. “He was the kind of person people came to for advice,” his mother told Israeli media.

Aid shipments to Gaza have increased under pressure from international groups and foreign governments. But hostages’ families argue that Hamas is blocking those supplies from reaching captives or vulnerable civilians. “Aid is being stolen,” said Wenkert. “There is no food for the hostages. Hamas eats first.”

According to observers and video footage from inside Gaza, local residents are suffering from severe hunger as Hamas militants reportedly seize control of nearly all food aid entering the territory.

Hamas released a video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who appears pale, skeletally thin, and shirtless, August 2025. Photo: Hamas video

Armed operatives have been documented threatening civilians at gunpoint, confiscating supplies, and redistributing them only to those who show allegiance to the group or are willing to pay inflated prices.

The Islamist Hamas, which has seen a collapse in public support across Gaza, is facing widespread accusations from both Palestinian civilians and international monitors of creating the current crisis.

Critics point not only to its hijacking of humanitarian aid, but also to Hamas’s role in launching the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel—an attack that triggered the ongoing war—and for the scale of destruction and civilian suffering that has followed in Gaza.

As the humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza, calls are growing for stronger international pressure on Hamas to release hostages and comply with basic human rights standards.

Critics argue the group has transformed both hostages and civilians into tools of propaganda while prolonging the war for political leverage.

(With files from Jerusalem Post | Times of Israel | The Guardian UK | AFP | Reuters)