Harrowing Video of Hostage Held by Hamas Sparks Global Attention
A new video released by Hamas shows 24-year-old Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who has been held in a Gaza tunnel for over a year, visibly starved and shirtless while digging his own grave. David, who was abducted from the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, said in the video that he had not eaten food or had water for several days, The Christian Post reported.
This is the grave I think I'm going to be buried in. Time is running out," David said, according to news.com.au.
As reported by the BBC, David's family said they were "forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas' tunnels in Gaza — a living skeleton, buried alive."
At the conclusion of the video, the following message appears on a black screen: "They eat what we eat. They drink what we drink." According to The Jerusalem Post, the footage also mixes scenes of David with images of starving Palestinian children as well as clips of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir calling for a halt to aid deliveries to Gaza.
The video has sparked global outrage and intensified calls for David's release as well as the rest of the hostages.
Ilay David, brother of Evyatar, called on President Donald Trump to step in "by any means necessary" to ensure their release.
"To remain silent now is to be complicit in their slow agonizing death," he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Yaelah David, Evyatar's sister, posted to social media to raise awareness of her brother's situation.
"After a night of crying over my brother, who has become a walking skeleton in Gaza's cruel dungeon, I understood that the whole world needs to see this," she wrote on Instagram.
She noted that the terror group was using starvation as a media tactic while they have restricted aid from reaching Gaza and its hostages.
Omer Wenkert, a former hostage who was held alongside David for 250 days, described the tunnels as bare, underground prisons and called for a complete return of the hostages. He also inquired if there was "even one photo of a Hamas terrorist who looks like Evyatar."
David previously appeared in a video released in February alongside hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal as they were seen pleading for their release while in a van, as other hostages were released.
"They filmed us constantly," Tal Shoham, who was held with David and Gilboa-Dalal, said. "From what I understood, there was also an explosive device next to the camera, aimed at us — so it would take out everything in the tunnel if the IDF tried to rescue us."
WATCH: Protests in Israel after Hamas Releases Video Showing Emaciated Hostage
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/ORI AVIRAM/Contributor
Originally published August 05, 2025.
