Outcry rang in Israel over the weekend after Hamas launched a video that appeared to show an Israeli hostage visibly emaciated along with images of demacred babies as international fury grows by the growing death of the Palestinians by hunger under the restrictions of offensive and partial help of Israel.
The video, which had no date and that NBC News cannot independently verify, seems to show David, who was one of the 250 people taken as hostages during the attacks of October 2023 led by Hamas.
Standing in an apparent tunnel without a shirt, David, Who is 24 years old, according to the forum of families of hosages and families, which represents hostage families, seems remarkably fragile, their ribs and shoulder blades that stand out through their skin.
The footage was juxtaposed with images of emaciated small children, their bones that peeked under their skin, since the number of children who die from hunger in Gaza under the offensive and help restrictions of Israel continue to increase.
Almost 170 people in Gaza, more than 90 of them children, have died from malnutrition since the war began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave, with the number of dead that goes up quickly in recent weeks.
Speaking in a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday, David’s relatives expressed their fear that he could face the same destiny, with his brother Ilay David calling the Israeli and American governments that “do everything in their possession, by any necessary means” to ensure their liberation, according to statements shared by hostages and missing families.
The images published by Hamas arrived one day after another video released Thursday by the militant group of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which also has Israeli hostages, seemed to show Rom Braslavski, who was also taken captive on October 7, 2023, which also appeared visibly withered.
President Donald Trump’s envoy in the Middle East Steve Witkoffmet with hostage families on Saturday and emphasized the Trump administration commitment to return to the 50 hostages that remain held in Gaza, said the forum of families and families missing in a statement. Of the 50 that remain captive, it was believed that they were alive at the end of June, according to the prime minister’s office.
The forum quoted Witkoff saying: “We know who is alive, and someone will be the fault if they don’t come out alive.” NBC News could not independently confirm the comment.
The meeting came a day after Witkoff made a short and extremely rare trip to Gaza with Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, on a visit condemned by some as a advertising trick.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also spoke “extensively” with the families of the two men on Saturday night, expressing “deep shock” in the recordings published by Hamas, according to his office.
In a statement, Netanyahu accused Hamas of “deliberately hunger” both hostages and Palestinian civilians in Gaza by “preventing them from receiving help.”
David’s brother accused Hamas of “deliberately hunger hunger” during Saturday’s rally.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused Hamas of diverting the help of Palestinian civilians throughout the war. But multiple help groups have said that they did not see signs of deviation of help, while an internal analysis of the United States government found no evidence of systematic theft of Hamas help supplies, According to a report submitted to state department officials and then seen by NBC News. The Israeli army dismissed the report as “partial.”
The mortal restrictions of military and paralyzing aid of Israel in recent months have caused the spiral hunger crisis in Gaza, the help groups, including the United Nations, have said repeatedly.
Israel launched a blockade that prohibited the entry of enclosure to the enclave in March, in the middle of its high fire with Hamas, before lifting it in May, but still allowing only a drip of basic supplies in the territory.
Last Sunday, the Israeli army said that military activity would pause in some areas to allow Gaza greater help, since it faced a growing international outrage on the spiral hunger crisis in the enclave under its offensive.
Humanitarian organizations have warned that although more help has begun to enter the enclave, it is not yet enough to avoid famine.
The world leader about hunger, the integrated classification of the food security phase, or IPC, said Tuesday that the “worst famine scenario” was already developing the Palestinian enclave under Israel’s mortal military offensive. He pointed out that his warning was an alert and not a “famine classification”.
Netanyahu has denied that there is hunger in Gaza, despite the report of the CPI and the growing deaths informed by local health officials and help groups.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the attacks of 2023 led by Hamas in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages, marking an important escalation in a decades conflict.
Since then, more than 60,800 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, while thousands have been injured, according to the local Ministry of Health, and much of the enclave has been reduced to debris.
Israel continues to face accusations of genocide in its assault in Gaza in a case presented to the International Court of Justice, while a growing number of experts and defenders also accused the country of genocidal acts, a position that both Israel and the United States have rejected.
