Outcry in Israel as Hamas releases video of emaciated hostage alongside starving Palestinian children

The outcry sounded in Israel during the weekend after Hamas published an video seeming to show an Israeli hostage visibly emaciated alongside imacted babies as international fury develops on the growing death of Palestinians of the famine under the restrictions of offensive and paralyzing assistance of Israel.

The unclear video that NBC News has not been able to check independently, seems to show Evyatar David, who was one of the approximately 250 people taken hostage during the attacks of October 7, 2023 led by Hamas.

Standing in an apparent tunnel all in naked shirt, David – Who is 24 years old, according to the hostage forum and missing families, which represents hostage families – seems clearly fragile, its ribs and its shoulder blades visible through its skin.

The images were juxtaposed to images of emaciated small children, their bones that came out under their skin, while the number of children dying of hunger in Gaza under the offensive restrictions and aid of Israel continues to increase.

Nearly 170 people in Gaza – more than 90 children – have died of malnutrition since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave, the number of dead climbing rapidly in recent weeks.

Speaking during a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, David’s relatives are afraid of facing the same fate, with his brother Ilay David appealing to Israeli and American governments to “do everything in your power, in all means” to secure his release, according to the declarations shared by the Hostage Forum and the missing families.

The images of Hamas occurred one day after the Jihad Palestinian Islamic Militant Group, which also holds Israeli hostages, published its own video seeming to show a visibly withered Roma Braslavski, which was also caught in captivity on October 7, 2023.

President Donald Trump’s envoy in the Middle East Steve Witkoff met hostage families on Saturday and underlined the Trump administration’s commitment to return the 50 hostages to Gaza, the hostage and familiar families said in a statement. Of the 50 remaining captive, just over 20 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 to blame if he does not come out alive.” NBC News has not been able to independently confirm the comment.

The meeting one day came after Witkoff made a short and extremely rare trip to Gaza alongside Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, during a visit condemned by some as a stroke of advertising.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke “at length” with the families of the two men on Saturday evening, expressing “a deep shock” during the recordings published by Hamas, according to his office.

In a statement, Netanyahu accused Hamas of having “deliberately hungry” the hostages and Palestinian civilians in Gaza by “preventing them from receiving help”.

David’s brother also accused Hamas of “making him deliberately sagging” during the rally on Saturday.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused Hamas of having diverted the help of Palestinian civilians throughout the war. But several aid groups said they had not seen any signs of hijacking, while an analysis of the internal American government has found no evidence of systematic flight supplies by Hamas, According to a report presented to the officials of the State Department and later seen by NBC News. The Israeli army rejected the report as “biased”.

The restrictions on aid to the military and paralyzing deadly from Israel in recent months have caused the hunger crisis in a spiral in Gaza, aid groups, including the United Nations, have repeatedly said.

Israel launched a blockade in March which prohibited the entry of help into the enclave in the middle of its ceasefire with Hamas. It raises the blockade in May but has still only authorized a net of basic supplies on the territory.

Last Sunday, the Israeli army said that it would arouse military activity in certain regions to allow more aid to Gaza when it faced an international indicative of the crisis of hunger in a spiral.

Humanitarian organizations have warned that if more help has started to walk in the enclave, it is still not enough to avoid famine.

The world’s leading world body, the integrated classification of the food security phase, or IPC, said on Tuesday that the “worst famine scenario” already took place in the Palestinian enclave under the deadly military offensive of Israel. He noted that his warning was an alert and not a formal “classification of famine”.

Netanyahu denied that there is famine in Gaza, despite the IPC report and the increase in death due to the famine reported by local health officials and aid groups.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the October 7 attacks led by Hamas, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages, marking a major climbing in a conflict of decades.

Since then, more than 60,800 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, while thousands of others have been injured, according to the local Ministry of Health, and a large part of the enclave has been reduced to rubble.

Israel continues to deal with allegations of genocide in its assault in Gaza in a case brought before the International Court of Justice, while an increasing number of experts and defenders also accused the country of genocidal acts, an Israelus accusation and the United States has rejected.