Former hostages and Israeli leaders reacted with shock and outrage Saturday night to new footage issued by terror groups of emaciated Israeli captives held in Gaza’s tunnels, as politicians accused Hamas of being the true culprit behind the hunger crisis in the enclave.
Former hostage Tal Shoham said he had been held with Evyatar David and other captives in the tunnel where David was seen in a video released by Hamas, and that off-camera, terrorists were enjoying air conditioning, cable television and “plenty of food” stolen from aid deliveries.
The footage of David, a clip of which his family approved for publication on Saturday, came after Palestinian Islamic Jihad released similarly harrowing propaganda footage of hostage Rom Braslavski. The clip of David showed him to be skeletal and digging what he said he feared was his grave.
Shoham spoke with Channel 12 as Israel accused Hamas of starving both the hostages and Gaza’s civilians, amid mounting international criticism of Israel over the humanitarian crisis in the Strip. Meanwhile, some members of the opposition assailed the government for failing to secure the hostages’ release.
‘Shocked to the depths of my soul’
Shoham, who was released in February as part of the last ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas, said he had been held together with hostages David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, as well as fellow former hostage Omer Wenkert, in the tunnel that could be seen in the Hamas footage.
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Shoham said Gilboa-Dalal was likely standing behind a blanket seen in the video that the Hamas captors had put up as a curtain.
“Behind the curtain they’ve put up, which is just one of the blankets we used, apparently Guy Gilboa-Dalal is standing or sitting, because they don’t let them go to a different tunnel,” said Shoham when asked what the video didn’t show.
“And right behind the cameraman, there’s an iron door, and a well-lit room, with air conditioners and a group of terrorists who sit and sleep there. They have cable TV; they have plenty of food — food they have stolen from the humanitarian supplies that Israel sent in for a very long time,” he said. “We could see that they were well fed, that they lacked for nothing. They also bragged about having stolen it, that they had months of supplies in that tunnel and all their tunnels.”
Freed hostage Tal Shoham speaks to Channel 12 news on August 2, 2025 (Screenshot)
Shoham said his captors’ weight appeared to remain stable even as he lost 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in captivity: “We didn’t see them losing even a kilo.”
Shoham said he was “shocked to the depths of my soul” to see David’s condition in the new footage. “He is broken mentally, emotionally. I can’t see now any of the joy of life that he had managed to retain in his eyes,” said Shoham. “Really, it’s a shell of the Evyatar I knew.”
He said David was doubtlessly digging the ostensible grave in the clip on the orders of his Hamas captors, “but I can see that he believes it. He really believes that [he and Gilboa-Dalal] will end their life there.”
Hamas-held hostage Evyatar David filmed digging what he says he fears will be his own grave in a tunnel in Gaza, in a Hamas propaganda video that his family cleared for publication on August 2, 2025 (Video screenshot)
Shoham also recalled that Hamas had at one point filmed himself, Wenkert, David and Gilboa-Dalal being fed generously in a propaganda video shot shortly before he and Wenkert were released.
Another video later showed David and Gilboa-Dalal pleading for release while being forced to watch the propaganda ceremony where Shoham and Wenkert were handed over to the Red Cross.
Appealing to his former cellmates, Shoham said: “Hold on… I want to believe that the government will do the right thing very soon, free you, make a deal.” He also expressed hope that Hamas could be pressured “to give you food, because there’s food meters away.”
“Do everything you can to hold on,” said Shoham, “so that we can embrace you both at home, God-willing, soon.”
‘This is what starvation looks like’
Writing in several languages, including Hebrew, English, Arabic and French, President Isaac Herzog accused Hamas of starving the hostages and the people of Gaza by “looting aid and blocking humanitarian deliveries, which Israel has worked with its international partners to increase.
“Now Hamas spreads lies and libels, blaming Israel to exploit global compassion,” said Herzog on X. “Hamas rejoices as it succeeds in distracting the world from its own crimes against humanity.”
President Isaac Herzog at the funeral of slain hostage Yonatan Samerano in Tel Aviv, June 24, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
“The faces of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski say it all. Forced to dig their own graves. Tormented with execution. Starved, tortured, wasting away,” wrote Herzog. “This is pure cruelty. I urge world leaders: Demand the hostages’ release. Ensure aid reaches civilians – not terrorists. This is a test of humanity. Silence is not an option.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’d spoken at length to the hostages’ families and “expressed to them my deep shock over the horrific footage.” He said he “told them in the clearest terms [that] we are continuing our efforts to bring back all the hostages — persistently, resolutely, and tirelessly.
“Hamas’s cruelty knows no bounds. While the State of Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza, Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages, documenting them in a cynical, humiliating, and malicious way. They are also starving the residents of Gaza – deliberately. They prevent them from receiving aid, then lie to the world and conduct a false propaganda campaign against Israel. I call on all the nations of the world – stand up against this Nazi-like abuse. Do not stand idly by. This is a moral test.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and fellow opposition party leaders demand global condemnation of Gaza’s terror groups for their treatment of the hostages they have held for the last 666 days.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 26, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
In an English-language statement on X, Lapid shared a side-by-side comparison of Evyatar David before he was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, versus his appearance in a Hamas propaganda video in February of this year anf dinally in the latest clip.
“This is what starvation looks like,” Lapid declared. “The entire world should condemn the murderous terrorist organization Hamas, which is intentionally starving the Israeli hostages,” he wrote. “The entire world should join the call for the release of all the hostages. Now.”
Avigdor Liberman, the hawkish leader of Yisrael Beytenu, also opted to address the situation in English, writing on X that “Hamas is the devil incarnate.”
“Our hostages are being held as human shields in horrific conditions,” he stated. “As long as they are in Gaza, Hamas knows that the IDF’s hands are tied.”
He said Israel must first recover the remaining 50 hostages, and only then “can we win and destroy Hamas.”
Finally, National Unity-Blue and White chair Benny Gantz suggested to world leaders to reconsider their plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
“Instead of rewarding terror and recognizing an illusionary Palestinian state – how about you first look at reality for what it is,” he wrote on X, sharing a still image from the video of David.
Former IDF chief of staff and ex-National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot said, “As chief of staff, I never imagined that there would come a day when we would see images of Jews dying and there would be no savior.”
He said that “Netanyahu and the ‘October 7’ cabinet ministers are responsible for an unforgivable failure, and for the failed management of the war that brought us to this point.”
MK Gadi Eisenkot holds a press conference after announcing his resignation from the Knesset and departure from the National Unity party, in Tel Aviv on July 1, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Eisenkot demanded that ministers make the “Jewish, ethical, moral decision to immediately sign a hostage deal — a comprehensive one, even at the cost of a permanent ceasefire.”
Lapid notes that on the agenda for the upcoming weekly cabinet meeting was “for the seven-thousandth time: a discussion about threats to the prime minister’s life.”
Absent from the agenda, he said, was any discussion on the hostages or about negotiations for their release.
“I obviously condemn any threat to the prime minister’s life, but he is the most secure person in Israel,” said Lapid. “I suggest replacing this topic with a discussion about the far more real threats to the life of Evyatar David.”
