Dozens of protesters blocked traffic on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway on Sunday morning, calling to free the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, after videos of two emaciated captives shocked Israelis and amplified calls for their release.
The demonstrators, led by the Women’s Protest group and including relatives of freed hostages, carried a banner reading “Abandonment of the hostages = destruction of the Third Temple,” along with “Everyone in a deal. Get out of Gaza.” Another sign read, in English, “Never again is now.”
They chanted, “Why are they still in Gaza?” and “Bringing them back, everyone now.” Among the marchers were Shai Mozes, nephew of released hostage Gadi Mozes, and Meor Rosenberg, a relative of freed hostage Arbel Yehoud, according to Channel 13.
The protest, which lasted about 20 minutes according to Haaretz, took place on the morning of the Tisha B’Av fast day, which commemorates the ancient destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, as well as a litany of other Jewish historical tragedies. It also occurred after Hamas and Islamic Jihad released videos of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavsky, respectively, both looking severely emaciated.
The video of David, in which his bones could be seen protruding through his skin and he was filmed digging his own grave, provoked outrage in Israel and beyond.
“This morning is the Ninth of Av, and the greatest destruction has only been getting deeper for 667 days,” read a statement from the protesters, referring to the number of days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that launched the war. They blamed the government for not doing more to free the captives.
“It is impossible to breathe in the face of the pictures of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavsky, who have been abandoned thanks to this bad government,” the statement said. “Bring everyone back, the living and the dead, and end the war already.”
The videos were released as global anger has mounted over reports of widening starvation in Gaza. Israel has denied that there is famine in the enclave but, in response to international pressure, instituted several measures a week ago to increase the flow of aid.
International reaction to the hostage videos appears to be muted thus far.
“The images of Israeli hostages are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas posted on X on Sunday. “All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza. At the same time, large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need.”
On Sunday, Ynet reported that US President Donald Trump had seen the video of David. On Saturday, US Sen. John Fetterman, an outspoken advocate of Israel, condemned the video.
“I had the honor to meet with his family in my office. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of this video for them,” he wrote of David. “I continue to stand with these families and every last hostage. Hamas: send these poor souls home, disarm, and end this hell on earth in Gaza.”
Several relatives of Braslavsky, David and other hostages have spoken out since Hamas released the videos on Thursday and Friday. Thousands demonstrated on Saturday night at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where relatives of the two decried the videos and called for the hostages to be freed.
A statement by David’s family said he has “only a few days left to live in his present state.”
“Hamas is using our son Evyatar as a live experiment in human starvation,” the statement said. “Israel and the international community must object to Hamas’ cruelty and ensure that our Evyatar immediately receives adequate nutrition.”
David was previously shown in a video in February, when Hamas brought him and fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dallal to witness the release of other captives. Islamic Jihad said more than a week ago that it lost contact with the captors holding Braslavsky and said this video was filmed beforehand.
Tal Shoham, a freed captive who was held together with David, said in a video statement that he recognized where the footage of David was filmed, and that he remembers his Hamas captors having ample food supplies for themselves there. He said that when he was released from captivity during a ceasefire in February, David was suffering from scurvy.
“This is a deliberate starvation by Hamas commanders that is only for propaganda in a really, really sadistic way,” he said in the video, adding that David is in “under really extreme life-threatening danger right now.”
And in a column for Ynet Sunday morning, freed hostage Ohad Ben-Ami wrote that the starvation Braslavsky and David are enduring was familiar to him.
“When I returned from captivity, my body had only 3.5 percent body fat,” he wrote. “It was said to me that had I stayed there another two or three weeks, I wouldn’t have survived. Evyatar and Rom, according to the pictures, may be in this situation as well — and so the negotiations need to be quick, so we can save them.