‘Walking to my grave’: Outrage after Hamas releases video of emaciated Israeli hostage By David Crowe August 3, 2025 https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle...maciated-israeli-hostage-20250803-p5mjuw.html London: The family of an Israeli hostage has accused Hamas of starving their son after the terror group released a video of the emaciated man with a shovel in a darkened tunnel, saying on camera he was digging his own grave. In a harrowing video that has sparked outrage in Israel, the hostage speaks to the camera operator about not knowing what he will be able to eat. A screenshot of the video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David. “I’m walking directly to my grave,” he says towards the end of the video, as he digs the sand at the base of the narrow tunnel. “This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried.” The man, Evyatar David, has been held hostage by Hamas for 666 days, after being captured by the listed terror group when it killed and seized civilians at a music festival in southern Israel as part of its October 7 attacks in 2023. At one point in the video, when he is handed a can of food, he says the single can is meant to last for two days so that he does not die. The outcry over David’s condition comes as world leaders urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help speed the delivery of food to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, while the World Food Program said more than 500,000 people were enduring famine-like conditions. Evyatar David’s mother, Galya David, and brother, Ilay Yosef David, hold a portrait of Evyatar in November 2023.Credit: AFP US President Donald Trump has sent his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Israel to explore a potential deal that could lead to a ceasefire, after Trump acknowledged last Monday that there was starvation in Gaza. Witkoff raised hopes for a ceasefire in a meeting with the families of hostages on Saturday, according to a recording of the meeting reported by Reuters. “We have a very, very good plan that we’re working on collectively with the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ... for the reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war,” he said. Malak Sobh, 7, searches through garbage for plastic to use as cooking fuel next to a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on Thursday.Credit: AP Hamas released the hostage video two days ago in an attempt to apply pressure on Netanyahu over the war, declaring hostages would only be released if Israel agreed to a ceasefire. David’s family approved the public release of the video on Saturday and said the footage showed he was being deliberately starved. “We are forced to witness our dear son and brother Evyatar being deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton buried alive,” the family said in a statement. “Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition. Hamas is using our son, Evyatar, as a living experiment in a disgusting hunger campaign. A still showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David from the video released by Hamas. “There is no limit to the pain the Hamas terror group causes the hostages and the residents of Gaza.” The family has criticised “Hamas propaganda” in the Israeli media and urged Trump and the government of Israel to do everything in their power to save David and other remaining hostages. World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, have urged Netanyahu to stop the war and allow more food to be distributed to civilians in Gaza, while also condemning Hamas and saying it should not have any role in the future of the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu has accused the three leaders, and others, of appeasing terrorists by preparing to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September. “The cruelty of Hamas has no boundaries,” Netanyahu said after talking to the hostage’s family. “While the State of Israel is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving our hostages and document them in a cynical and evil manner. “The entire world must take a stand in a clear message against the criminal Nazi abuse perpetrated by the Hamas terror organisation.” with Reuters
Hamas shows starved Israeli hostages alongside emaciated Palestinian babies Mehul Srivastava Aug 3, 2025 Tel Aviv | Hamas has released a propaganda video of a visibly starved Israeli hostage alongside images of emaciated Palestinian babies that have prompted international condemnation of Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The undated video was released late on Friday (Saturday AEST) soon after Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, and Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, visited an American- and Israeli-backed food distribution site in Gaza, which has been gripped by famine. A screenshot of the video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David. The video shows Evyatar David, a young musician taken hostage alongside 250 others on October 7, 2023, when Hamas triggered a 21-month war with a cross-border raid into southern Israel. He is shown shirtless in a tunnel, his ribs protruding, ticking off the days on a hand-drawn calendar. The propaganda video, which his family has asked media not to broadcast, is interspersed with images of starving babies and children, with a message declaring “They Eat What We Eat”. Another video, released on Thursday by a separate militant group that is also holding Israeli hostages, showed Rom Braslavski, an off-duty reservist, looking gaunt and pale. Propaganda videos have been released before when talks stalled, prompting a national outcry and renewed pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, centre, visiting a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Gaza. AP On Saturday morning, Witkoff went to Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square”, where the families of those taken captive have begged Netanyahu to agree to Hamas’s demands for a ceasefire. Witkoff has been the primary American mediator, working with Qatar and Egypt to broker a deal that would lead to the remaining 50 hostages – of whom 20 are still estimated to be alive – being handed over by Hamas. Those talks have repeatedly collapsed, most recently two weeks ago, largely over Hamas’ overarching demand that any temporary ceasefire eventually becomes a lasting truce. Netanyahu has rejected that condition. US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was waiting to be briefed by Witkoff on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where widespread starvation has taken hold over a besieged population of at least 2 million civilians. Israel has throttled the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza for the entirety of the war, including an 80-day siege this year when it ended a ceasefire in March. Since then, Israel has allowed a trickle of aid from the UN and other humanitarian agencies into the territory. It has backed instead the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs four distribution sites in south and central Gaza, staffed by US mercenaries working under the protection of the Israeli military. Despite tens of thousands of starving Palestinians within an hours’ walk of the site, Huckabee described the project as “incredible”, throwing his weight behind an Israeli attempt to replace a UN-led model of food distribution that it claims bolsters Hamas’ resilience in Gaza. The two US envoys donned flak vests on Friday, with Witkoff sporting a Make America Great Again baseball cap, to visit one of those sites, driving through the rubble of the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel has nearly completed the demolition of the city of Rafah. International aid groups have criticised the foundation for violating humanitarian principles and serving as a “fig leaf” to force the displacement of Palestinians out of north and central Gaza into the south. Local officials said more than 1000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in recent months, many in attacks by Israeli troops while attempting to reach GHF sites. The Israel Defence Forces dispute the casualty figures, while GHF said most casualties took place away from their hubs. A UN-backed panel warned this week that the packages of food the GHF were distributing were inadequate and would “lead to mass starvation, even if it was able to function without the appalling levels of violence that have been reported”. Financial Times
Just like Trump who followed in Biden's footsteps regarding supporting Israel's war, here we have Witkoff following in Blinkens footsteps, parading in front of the cameras - the bullshit artists of peace.