Israel, August 3: The family of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old Israeli hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, has condemned the militant group for what it called a “propaganda campaign” after the release of a video showing David in a severely emaciated state, digging what he says is his own grave.
David, who was abducted during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on a music festival in southern Israel, appears in the footage visibly gaunt and frail inside a narrow concrete tunnel. “I haven’t eaten for days… I barely got drinking water,” he is heard saying.
“We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive,” the family said in a statement on Saturday. They called on the Israeli government and the international community to “do everything possible to save Evyatar.”
David is one of 49 Israeli hostages still believed to be held in Gaza out of 251 abducted during Hamas’s assault. Israeli authorities say 27 of the remaining hostages are presumed dead.
The video has reignited scrutiny of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, where aid agencies have accused Israel of weaponising food access in its military campaign against Hamas. Israel denies the charge, insisting it is not blocking humanitarian aid. However, European allies, the United Nations, and international aid groups have publicly rejected Israel’s assertion that “there is no starvation” in Gaza.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had recently airdropped 90 aid packages in northern and southern Gaza in coordination with the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, France, and Germany. “The IDF is continuing the series of actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip,” the military said.
Despite these efforts, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported seven new deaths from malnutrition on Saturday, including a child. The total number of reported malnutrition-related deaths now stands at 169, among them 93 children.
Meanwhile, the ministry said at least 83 Palestinians were killed and 1,079 injured over the past 24 hours amid ongoing Israeli military operations. Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat reported receiving three bodies and treating 36 injured people after alleged Israeli fire near an aid distribution site operated by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The IDF acknowledged firing warning shots “hundreds of metres away” from the distribution point after crowds failed to heed warnings, but claimed the incident occurred outside the site’s operating hours. “The IDF is not aware of any casualties as a result of the warning shots, and the details of the incident are still being examined,” it said.
GHF denied any incident at its sites, while independent verification of claims remains challenging, as international journalists are barred by Israel from entering Gaza.
Israel imposed a total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza in early March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. The blockade was partially eased after 11 weeks, following warnings from global agencies of impending famine, but severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine persist.
Israel launched its campaign in response to the October 7 attacks that killed around 1,200 people. According to Gaza’s health authorities, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since.
