For the first time in months, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have released videos of Israeli hostages they have held since Oct. 7, 2023, pleading for their release.
The videos of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David show the young men in dire physical conditions and come amid a breakdown in negotiations toward their release.
“Those who have seen it now understand how serious it is and the physical condition Evyatar was in when, just 40 minutes ago, he gave me a million punches to the heart,” wrote David’s sister Yeela David on social media.
The video of David, 24, who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival along with his best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, was published Friday by Hamas but was not publicized on request from his family.
It comes one day after Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video of Braslavski, 21, who was abducted while working as a security guard at the Nova music festival during a break in his army service.
Of the roughly 250 hostages taken on Oct. 7, 49 hostages are still held captive in Gaza, and 20 are believed to still be alive. (The body of another Israeli killed in 2014 also remains in Gaza.)
Former hostage Liri Albag, a soldier who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 477 days before being released during a ceasefire in January, wrote on social media that she was “shattered” by the new videos of the hostages, adding, “We don’t need such images to push for a deal.”
A poll released last month found that three-quarters of Israelis supported a deal to end the war and release all the hostages. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas have backed away from partial deals that would pause the fighting and cause some of the hostages to be freed.
“I’m sitting here and I can’t stop crying,” Albag wrote. “Seeing the signs of life from Rom and Evyatar, right before Friday dinner, knowing I have food on the table, knowing I got out of there, and knowing it’s been half a year since I was lucky enough to return, and remembering where my brothers are, realizing they’re still there — it crushes me.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed that the 6-minute video of Braslavski, who is seen in a still from the video pale, thin and laying on the ground, was taken days before the group says it lost contact with his captors.
The group said this week that it could not reach Braslavski’s captors, amid shifting Israeli operations in Gaza and as global attention turned to the humanitarian crisis unfolding there.
In a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Braslavski’s family demanded a joint meeting with security chiefs and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss his fate.
“People are speaking a lot about what is happening in Gaza, about the hunger, and I ask all those who are speaking about hunger: Did you see our Rom? He doesn’t receive food, and he doesn’t receive medicine. He is simply forgotten there,” the statement read. “They managed to break Rom. Even the most resilient person has their breaking point.”
“They broke my boy. I want him home now,” Braslavski’s mother, Tami, told the Ynet news site. “I know how many beatings he is taking. I know because Rom doesn’t cry. If he cries, it is because they are abusing him. Look at him. Thin, limp, crying. All his bones are out.”
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