“Buried Alive”: Hostage Videos Spur Global Outrage, Hamas Sets Cruel Conditions for Aid

Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades announced conditional willingness to allow Red Cross aid to Israeli hostages, following global outrage over videos showing captives in dire conditions. Palestinian Islamic Jihad released footage on July 31 of 21-year-old Rom Braslavsky, abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, appearing emaciated and tearful, stating he ate only “three crumbs of falafel” that day. His family, devastated, said, “They managed to break Rom. He has simply been forgotten there,” urging Israeli and U.S. leaders to act. Hamas followed on August 2 with a video of 24-year-old Evyatar David, so starved he described digging his own grave. His relatives condemned Hamas, stating, “Evyatar is deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza, a living skeleton, buried alive.” Of the 251 hostages taken in 2023, 49 remain, with only 22 believed alive, per IDF estimates.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after speaking with the families, expressed “profound shock” and vowed that efforts to free the hostages “will continue constantly and relentlessly.” He contacted the Red Cross regional head on August 3, pressing for immediate food and medical aid. The Red Cross, “appalled” by the “life-threatening conditions,” demanded access. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the videos “sickening,” demanding unconditional release, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Hamas’s “abject cruelty.”

Hamas’s offer to allow aid hinges on Israel permanently opening Gaza’s humanitarian corridors and halting airstrikes, conditions the Hostages Families Forum rejected, stating, “Hamas has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days. Until their release, Hamas has the obligation to provide them with everything they need. Every hostage who dies will be on Hamas’s hands.” Social media on X echoed the outrage, with one user noting, “Hamas’s conditions are a cruel ploy, hostages are starving while they play politics.” Amid 60,000 reported Palestinian deaths, per Gaza’s Health Ministry, and ongoing IDF operations targeting Hamas’s 1,500-kilometer tunnel network, the crisis intensifies.