The family of 24-year-old Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, has strongly condemned a newly released video showing him in a severely weakened and emaciated state. The footage, published by Hamas on Friday, has sparked outrage and renewed pleas for international intervention.
David was kidnapped during Hamas’s brutal attack on a music festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. In the video, he appears gaunt and frail, standing in a concrete tunnel and speaking directly to the camera. “I haven’t eaten for days… I barely got drinking water,” he says, before revealing that he’s digging what he describes as his own grave.
His family released a statement on Saturday, accusing Hamas of “cynically and deliberately starving” him for psychological warfare and propaganda purposes. “We are watching our son and brother become a living skeleton, buried alive beneath Gaza,” the statement read.
The family urged both the Israeli authorities and the global community to take immediate action. “We beg the Israeli government and international powers to do everything possible to save Evyatar,” they said.
David is among the 49 hostages believed to still be in captivity in Gaza. Out of the 251 people abducted during the October 2023 attack, Israeli officials report that 27 are presumed dead.
While the focus remains on the hostages, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. Multiple international organizations and governments have accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war — claims that Israel flatly denies.
Israeli authorities insist there is no famine and that aid is being allowed into Gaza, but these assertions are disputed by European allies, UN agencies, and humanitarian workers on the ground.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Saturday that it had dropped 90 aid packages over northern and southern Gaza, in collaboration with partners including the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, France, and Germany. These efforts, according to the IDF, are part of ongoing attempts to improve humanitarian access.
Despite these claims, the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, reported on the same day that another seven people — including a child — had died of malnutrition, bringing the total to 169 malnutrition-related deaths since the war began. Of those, 93 were children.
Additionally, at least 83 people were reported killed and more than 1,000 injured in the last 24 hours as a result of Israeli military operations.
Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza told AccountJustice that three bodies had been received following a shooting incident near an aid distribution center on Salah al-Din Street. The center is operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by the U.S. and Israel. The hospital also reported treating 36 wounded civilians.
The IDF responded by saying its troops fired warning shots several hundred meters from the site and outside of distribution hours, after a group of civilians advanced “in a threatening manner.” The military added that it was unaware of any resulting casualties and is currently investigating the incident.
GHF denied any activity at or near their distribution site at the time of the incident.
Due to Israeli restrictions, international journalists — including those from AccountJustice — are barred from entering Gaza independently, making it difficult to verify competing claims from both sides.
Earlier this year, Israel imposed a full blockade on aid entering Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages. The blockade, which lasted nearly three months, was only partially lifted following international outrage and growing warnings from global famine experts.
Despite the partial reopening of aid channels, relief agencies say food, medicine, and fuel remain scarce. The situation is worsening by the day, with many in the territory on the brink of starvation.
Israel’s military campaign was launched in response to Hamas’s coordinated assault on October 7, which left roughly 1,200 people dead. Since then, according to Hamas-run health authorities, over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed.
As the conflict grinds on, families like that of Evyatar David continue to plead for answers — and for action.
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