Ilay David appealed on Saturday for immediate international intervention to save his younger brother, Evyatar David, 23, and fellow Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, both held in Gaza since Hamas’s 7 October massacre.
“I am a brother and a son whose heart is being torn apart, watching helplessly as my younger brother Evyatar and his friend Guy slip away,” David told hundreds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. “They are on the absolute brink of death.”
“In their current, unimaginable condition, they may have only days left to live,” he warned. “Hamas is starving Evyatar deliberately, systematically, turning his agony into twisted propaganda.”
“This is not merely a breach of international law,” he added. “It is an act so vile it scars the very soul of humanity. To remain silent is to be complicit in their slow, agonizing death.”
David called on the Israeli government to bring every diplomatic and military tool to bear, urged humanitarian agencies to get food and medicine directly to the captives, and pressed former US president Donald Trump and other world leaders to apply “maximum pressure on Hamas by any means necessary.”
David’s appeal came a day after Hamas issued a harrowing video that shows Evyatar, gaunt and trembling, crossing off days without food on a makeshift calendar in a Gaza tunnel and digging what he says may be his own grave.
Evyatar's sister, Ye’ela, also spoke at the rally, noting how Hamas used the graphic images of her brother for psychological torture.
Hamas releases propaganda video as Witkoff visits Israel, Gaza
The clip was released shortly after US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff toured Hostage Square on Friday, and told families that Washington now backs an “all-or-nothing” deal to free the remaining 50 IsraIlay captives. Relatives responded by erecting a barbed-wire protest camp and vowing to stay until a comprehensive agreement is reached.
Witkoff also visited a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip to assess the status of aid dIlayvery.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said it is “working through every available channel” to rescue the hostages, and the International Committee of the Red Cross renewed its demand for immediate access to detainees in Gaza.
As the news conference ended, supporters chanted “Bring them home.” Over the applause, Ilay David voiced one final plea: “Act now, before it’s too late.”