Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David are among the remaining 59 hostages, including five Americans, whom Hamas had kidnapped on October 7.
The brothers of two Israeli hostages who were forced to watch the release of other individuals held by Hamas, but were not freed themselves, condemned the terrorist organization’s “psychological torture” techniques intended to break Israeli morale.
During the release of Israeli hostages last month, Hamas recorded a video of Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who were sitting in a vehicle parked at the propaganda event. In the short video, Gilboa-Dalal and David ask Israel’s government to save them. Hamas has used similar videos at various points after October 7 in a bid to turn the Israeli public against its political leaders.
Gal Gilboa-Dalal, Guy’s brother, said that he happened to see the video as he sat in the audience during President Donald Trump’s speech at CPAC. He was in Washington with Evyatar’s brother for meetings with U.S. officials. The two hostages have been best friends since birth, Gal said, and they were abducted during Hamas’s October 7 rampage at the Nova music festival.
“This video is another example of the psychological torture that we as families have to endure and the hostages have to endure, probably on a daily basis,” he told National Review in an interview last month.
“It was very, very hard to see my brother watching his best friends getting out of this hell while he was dragged back to hell. What they did in this video is they showed my brother what freedom might look like for him, then they closed the door.”
He added that Hamas’s apparent motivation, to hurt the families of the hostages, was “pure evil.”
Ilay David, Evyatar’s brother, said that watching the video in the audience at Trump’s speech was “symbolic.” “It was amazing. It feels like his commitment is so real to bring back all of them. It fills me with hope that someone so strong as President Trump cares so much about Israel, about the hostages.”
The first phase of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas concluded last month with the hostage release that Gilboa-Dalal and David were present for. Hamas released 33 hostages in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees who had been held by Israel on terrorism and other similar charges.
The second phase of the deal has yet to begin, as diplomatic talks continue in Doha this week, but it is expected to result in the release of the remaining 59 hostages, including five Americans, and a permanent cease-fire.
Ilay David said that he’s concerned about his brother’s health in the interim and that he believes that Hamas might keep some of the hostages as an insurance policy. He added that he’s concerned that the slow trickle of hostage releases per the negotiated framework is “just not good enough” and that he is hopeful that Trump will get a better deal.
“I think President Trump can bring something much, much better than that, because if you go to the second phase, it’s 42 days. It’s so long. So many people can die in 42 days.”