Monday, August 4, 2025

Hamas releases chilling video of ‘living skeleton’ hostage –

NewsUS NewsHamas releases chilling video of 'living skeleton' hostage -

Hamas forced emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David to dig his own grave in a sick new propaganda video, as the twisted terror group continued to stall negotiations to release the remaining living captives.

In the nearly 5-minute clip released Friday, the 24-year-old David is seen in a tunnel with a ceiling roughly as high as he is tall, crossing off dates on a calendar and digging a grave.

“I haven’t eaten for a few days in a row,” David says in the footage.

Emaciated hostage digging in a tunnel.

The video shows David digging inside a tunnel. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum

A young man digging in a dark tunnel.

David’s family believe he just has a few days left to live. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum

In the middle of the video, the person behind the camera hands him a can of beans.

“This can is for two days,” David says. “This whole can is for two days so that I don’t die.

“This is the grave I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”

The David family, which allowed the release of the video, said in a statement sent to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, “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 deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen.”

The appalling video sparked outrage in Israel and across the globe. 

“Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages, documenting them in a cynical, humiliating, and malicious manner,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Naftali Fürst, a Holocaust survivor, said she watched the images of the hostages with a “heavy heart,” taking her back decades.

Emaciated hostage holding shovel in what appears to be a grave.

Evyatar David was forced to dig a grave by his sick captors. Al-Qassam Brigade Footage

Emaciated hostage in Hamas propaganda video.

In the video, David said he hasn’t eaten in days. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum

“I survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I know hunger up close. In the camps, we were given rations of bread and watery soup,” she said. “We were so hungry, we would even eat grass if we could find it.

“I remember the humiliation—the complete stripping of human dignity. I know the fear, the terror.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill pointed to Hamas’ monstrous treatment of David as a reminder of the terrorist group’s barbarity and role in prolonging the bloody conflict in Gaza. 

“The chilling video of Hamas hostage Evyatar David is a grotesque reminder of why America must stand with Israel and demand every hostage’s release,” retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Post.

He added, “If Hamas released the tortured hostages, this war would end.”

“Iran-backed Hamas terrorists have held innocent people hostage, starving them for 666 days,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said of the horrifying footage

“Just look at these photos — it’s gut-wrenching. Every day that goes by is a risk to their lives. We cannot stop until every hostage is home and Hamas is destroyed.”

Poster demanding the release of Israeli hostage Evyatar David.

David has been held in captivity since October 7, 2023. AFP via Getty Images

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA.) recounted how he met with David’s family and demanded Hamas release the hostages.

“I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of this video for them. I continue to stand with these families and every last hostage. Hamas: send these poor souls home, disarm, and end this hell on earth in Gaza,” Fetterman said in response to the chilling video.

Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called the imagery “vile” and underscored Hamas’ role in fueling the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. 

“This is vile. Where are all those demanding Israel end this war now? Lawler stressed. “Where are all those decrying the humanitarian crisis now? 

Man holding signs with photos of Israeli hostages at a rally.

Thousands of Israelis protest every Saturday to demand the release of all hostages and an end to the war. LP Media

“The only entity for the devastation that has been inflicted upon innocent Israelis and Palestinians is Hamas. Period. Full stop.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) said, “The world’s silence about the deliberate starvation of Israelis and Jews — at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — is as deafening as its hypocrisy.”

“A humanitarianism that devalues Jewish life is no humanitarianism at all, for it has been hollowed out by antisemitism,” Torres added.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the images “vile” and “unbearable.”

“The hostage’s hell must end,” he wrote on X Saturday.

Protest in Tel Aviv demanding the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Protestors in Tel Aviv demanded the release of the hostages. REUTERS

Israel has come under heightened pressure on the world stage over the conditions in Gaza, with countries such as Canada, the UK and France moving to recognize a Palestinian state as soon as next month. 

But top US officials have repeatedly sought to drill home to allies that Hamas is the one preventing peace. 

“The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” President Trump emphasized on Truth Social earlier this week.

Hamas is believed to still have 20 living hostages in captivity and 30 who are dead. Despite that, Israel has moved to allow more humanitarian aid to the war-torn enclave, including from airdrops, tactical pauses in key areas, and the opening of new routes for aid to flow through.

US envoy Steve Witkoff meeting with families of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv.

Witkoff spoke with the families of the hostages in Tel Aviv Saturday. AFP via Getty Images

The cruel hostage video marks the second one released by the terror group this week.

On Thursday, chilling footage showed Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski ghostly and frail as he cried during the six-minute video.

Both were kidnapped at the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 terror attack and are among the remaining 20 hostages believed to still be alive.

“They are on the absolute brink of death,” brother Ilay David said Saturday, speaking in English before a crowd of thousands in Tel Aviv gathered for their weekly demonstrations to call for the release of all hostages and an end to the war.

A crowd of people surround a group of people, some of whom are being escorted by security.

Witkoff said there would be no more piecemeal deals to only release some hostages at a time. AP

David called on Trump to secure the release of the hostages “by any means necessary.”

“To remain silent now is to be complicit in their slow agonizing death,” he said.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff, meanwhile, told Israeli hostages’ families in a meeting in Tel Aviv earlier Saturday, that he had no news of progress in talks with Hamas, according to Hebrew media.

“I hear your frustration. But the situation is complicated. There are many reasons that I cannot detail,” he said.

Witkoff added that an end to the war was “very close,” according to a statement by the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters.

“We have a plan to … bring everyone home.”

The Trump administration envoy said the US was after a deal that would release all hostages from the Palestinian enclave and end the war.

“No piecemeal deals,” he added. “That doesn’t work. We’ve tried everything.”

Hamas refuted claims by Witkoff it was ready to lay down arms, vowing not to disarm “as long as the occupation exists” and until there is a fully sovereign Palestinian state.

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