{"id":118391,"date":"2025-08-04T14:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/118391\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:34:08","slug":"videos-of-emaciated-israeli-hostages-in-gaza-increase-pressure-on-netanyahu-for-a-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/118391\/","title":{"rendered":"Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza<\/a> have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war.<\/p>\n

The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages<\/a> pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavski writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families.<\/p>\n

The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets<\/a> on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,\u201d Braslavski\u2019s mother, Tami, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Warnings of famine in Gaza<\/p>\n

The videos were released as warnings about famine<\/a> among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians<\/a> have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory.<\/p>\n

Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine \u2014 access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,\u201d Netanyahu said on Sunday. \u201cThey do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages \u201clike the Nazis starved the Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was \u201cappalled by the harrowing videos\u201d and called for access to the hostages.<\/p>\n

Hamas\u2019 military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a \u201cregular and permanent manner\u201d in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages \u201ceat the same food as our fighters and the general public\u201d and denied any intentional starvation of them.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting.<\/p>\n

The videos were being used by Hamas \u201cto force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,\u201d Sa\u2019ar asserted.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel\u2019s military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: \u201call of them, without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

More starvation deaths<\/p>\n

The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces \u201ca worst-case scenario of famine<\/a> \u2033 because of Israel\u2019s blockade.<\/p>\n

No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said.<\/p>\n

Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel\u2019s government has denied<\/a> that people are starving to death in Gaza.<\/p>\n

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel\u2019s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians<\/a>, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

The ministry, which doesn\u2019t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn\u2019t provided its own.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This version corrects the last name of Rom Braslavski.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s war coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/israel-hamas-war<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":118392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[97,372,74009,4526,57,4527,15127,3497,3464,99,3462,373,3463,50,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-118391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","10":"tag-evyatar-david","11":"tag-gaza-strip","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-hamas","14":"tag-hostage-situations","15":"tag-humanitarian-crises","16":"tag-international-agreements","17":"tag-israel","18":"tag-israel-government","19":"tag-israel-hamas-war","20":"tag-mideast-wars","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114970995935824274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}