As the Hostages Forum medical team revealed its assessment that hostage Evyatar David has lost nearly half of his body weight in Hamas captivity, his cousin Matan Eshet said the family was not paying close attention to the medical evaluation.

“They can tell me his medical condition and the statistics, but he’s in such bad shape that I can see it with my own eyes,” said Eshet. “I don’t need a degree to tell me that he’s on the brink of death.”

Three medical and public health experts compiled the Hostages Forum report, which was based on the propaganda videos of David and fellow hostage Ram Braslavski that were released over the weekend, as well as testimonies from freed hostages and examinations of those who were killed.

In the Hamas video of Evyatar David, published after Palestinian Islamic Jihad released similarly harrowing propaganda footage of Braslavski, David is shown to be skeletal and forced to dig what he said he feared was his grave.

Eshet, a first cousin of David’s who grew up living across the street from him in their hometown of Kfar Saba, has been working with his family for the last 22 months to bring David home.

“I was broken when I saw the video,” said Eshet. “My cousin doesn’t look or sound like himself. He looks like a copy of a copy of a copy of Evyatar.”

When the new video surfaced on Telegram, David’s older brother, Ilai David, and his mother, Galia David, would not watch it.

“Ilai said, ‘I can’t, I understand how bad he looks and I couldn’t get out of bed the last time, so how will I get out of bed after I see this one?'” said Eshet.

An initial video of David and his best friend, hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, was published in February 2025, as their fellow captives Omer Wenkert and Tal Shoham were returned to Israel during the ceasefire. At the time, according to Eshet, the family tried to take a positive view.

“We said, at least he’s with Guy, at least they fed him before the video,” recalled Eshet.

The family is now in regular contact with Shoham and Wenkert, who have given them detailed descriptions of their time in captivity with David.

“We got to know the hell he’s going through; it became a reality,” said Eshet. “We had testimony about what he thinks about, what he feels, the lack of food and sunlight.”

Eshet said the family is currently focused on rallying global pressure so David can get food and medical attention, although it is not holding out much hope of being helped by the Israeli government or United Nations.

“I don’t care if a member of the government calls us, I don’t want them to call to tell us they’re working on a deal, or that it’s terrible to see Evyatar like that,” said Eshet. “I want them to bring him back.”

Wenkert and Shoham have both said that the tunnel shown in the Hamas video of David is the same tunnel where they all held together, and that Gilboa-Dalal was probably behind the curtain seen in the footage.

“We know there are two ends to the tunnel, the iron door that closes behind you and the wall at the other end,” said Eshet.

“They probably didn’t show Guy to torture his family, and to suggest that maybe something happened to him,” added Eshet. “But we believe he’s there.”

Even now, said Eshet, the family’s anger is only directed at Hamas, with David’s loved ones wanting to utilize their waning energy to speak about him in local and international media.

“We don’t have enough power to be angry at those who won’t help him directly,” he said. “Anger won’t get us anywhere.”

Eshet, 28, is the same age as David’s older brother, Ilay. The two attended the same schools, with their families’ homes situated one parking lot away from one another.

When David was first taken hostage, Eshet, a recent chemical engineering graduate, spent most of his time at his aunt and uncle’s home, ensuring that David’s parents and siblings ate at least one meal a day and managing the number of visitors. Eventually, he became the driver for his cousins, taking them to meetings, rallies and interviews.

The family was left with only one car, explained Eshet, as David had taken his mother’s car to the Nova desert rave where it was burned by Hamas terrorists.

On October 7, Eshet had just returned from a family vacation to the US, his family’s first time setting foot on American soil.

As he learned that the family lost contact with David, Eshet said his first thought was that his cousin’s phone probably ran out of battery after partying throughout the night.

“He has this aura about him,” said Eshet. “He was always running around and having things happen, but never anything major.”

By noon on October 7, the family knew that David had been taken hostage along with his best friend, Gilboa-Dalal, whom Eshet remembered from when the two were small boys.

Eshet described how he goes to bed at 4 a.m. to exhaust himself from dreaming about David, and said he has avoided social media the last few days to avoid seeing his cousin’s emaciated face.

“I see it every time I close my eyes,” said Eshet. “We need the world, the people of the world to help us make sure Evyatar comes back right now. We need to save this kid.”