Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted to a distressing new Hamas propaganda video featuring 24-year-old Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who appears severely emaciated and is seen digging what he claimed was his own grave.
“The cruelty of Hamas knows no limits,” Netanyahu stated. “While Israel permits humanitarian aid into Gaza, Hamas terrorists are intentionally starving our hostages and cynically documenting it in an evil manner.”
“The entire world needs to deliver a clear message against the criminal Nazi-like abuse executed by Hamas,” Netanyahu continued.
The Israeli prime minister’s office announced Saturday that Netanyahu had engaged in lengthy conversations with the families of David and another hostage, Rom Braslavski, recently depicted in similar conditions. Netanyahu conveyed “profound shock over the materials released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” He assured the families that efforts to secure the hostages’ return are ongoing, constant, and unyielding.
“They are on the verge of death. In their current, unimaginable state, they might have only days left,” Ilay told the crowd in Hostages Square. “Hamas is conducting one of the most horrendous and calculated campaigns of cruelty, using Evyatar in a live hunger experiment. They are systematically starving him, using his suffering as a twisted tool for propaganda.”
“This isn’t just a breach of international law,” Ilay continued. “It’s a brutal, barbaric assault on every iota of basic human decency, an act so vile it scars the soul of humanity.”
The U.S. and Israel pulled their negotiators from Doha, Qatar, two weeks ago as ceasefire and hostage-release talks with Hamas reached a standstill.
On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met with Netayahu in Israel before spending several hours in Gaza inspecting food distribution centers amid hunger concerns.
Families of hostages gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 2, 2025. (ORI AVIRAM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Witkoff said they spent over five hours inside Gaza – “level-setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions,” and meeting with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other agencies.
He said the purpose of the visit was to give President Donald Trump “a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.”
Chapin Fay, a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said the visit reflected Trump’s understanding of the stakes and that “feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority.”
