As Europe and Canada Plan To Recognize Palestinian State, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas Release Videos of Israeli Hostages: ‘Starved, Tortured, and Abused’ Matthew Xiao
Rom Braslavski, 21, and Evyatar David, 24, were both abducted during the October 7 terrorist attack
The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups on Thursday released videos of Israeli hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyantar David—both frail after 664 days in captivity—as Canada, the United Kingdom, and France have announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Braslavski, a 21-year-old kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, from the Nova music festival where he was working as a security guard, appeared extremely weak and pale in the six-minute video, the Times of Israel reported. The PIJ, an ally of Hamas, said the footage was filmed days before it and Hamas cut off all contact with mediators, leaving Braslavski’s fate unknown.
“They broke my child, I want him home, now!” Braslavski’s mother told Ynet. “I know how he was beaten. I know that Rom does not cry, and if he is crying, it is because he was tortured. Look at him, he is thin, skin and bone, crying. All his bones are visible.”
Hamas on Friday followed suit in releasing a video of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David, another Israeli who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the October 7 attack.
The video shows David “looking almost like a skeleton,” wrote X user @VividProwess. “This is what real starvation looks like. The hostages are starved, tortured, and abused. Where is the world’s outrage for the hostages? Their silence is deafening.”
The chilling footage came a day after Canada joined France and the United Kingdom in backing Palestinian statehood. President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have condemned the endorsement, with Trump saying the recognition amounts to “rewarding” Palestinian terrorists.
The PIJ in April also issued a video of Braslavski, in which he appeared very ill. In that video, Braslavski said he was going through “hell” and appealed directly to Trump and Netanyahu to secure his release, the New York Post reported.
Hamas released a previous video of David as well.
Last week, Hamas rejected the latest U.S. ceasefire offer and refused to release the remaining Israeli hostages. The Trump administration in response recalled its diplomatic team from Qatar, ending two weeks of peace negotiations.
Israeli intelligence estimates that around 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza, along with the bodies of up to 50 others who died in captivity.
“The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday.
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