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Evyatar David was born on December 24, 2000 to Avishai and Galia David.[1][2] He is from Kfar Saba.[3] He has a brother Ilay, and a sister Yaela.[2]
Kidnapping
David was kidnapped from the Nova festival during the October 7 attacks.[3] He reported being shot at and trying to escape by vehicle, before the connection was lost.[4] He was taken with his childhood best friend Guy Gilboa-Dalal.[5]
Captivity
David and Gilboa-Dalal, were taken on February 22, 2025 to watch the release of three other hostages, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert, after 505 days. David and Gilboa-Dalal were not freed and remained as hostages.[6] The two are held with their hands and feet tied, bags over their heads, and fed very little in complete darkness, which makes it difficult to know what they are eating. They receive one shower a month with a bucket of water. David does not have his glasses and is unable to see well.[7]
Starvation
Hamas released footage of David in August 2025, showing him in an severely emaciated state and forced to dig his own grave. He stated that he had not eaten in days and received little water to drink. A similar video was released by Palestinian Islamic Jihad depicting hostage Rom Braslavski.[8][9] Hamas claimed the hostages eat the same food as the militant group's members, but the video shows a Hamas member handing David a can of food. The captor's arm is much larger than David's, showing the former is well-fed. Other hostages noted that Hamas members would feast next door to where they were being held, and they could smell the food.[10]
Reactions
David's family compared it to the Holocaust, referring to him as a muselmann. They said his life was in "immediate danger", and that he had been "deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’ tunnels in Gaza". They also describing him as "a living skeleton, buried alive."[8] In an interview with Geoff Bennett on PBS NewsHour, David's cousin, Matan Eshet, pointed out that the Hamas captor had a much larger hand and arm than David, showing the former is well-fed. Eshet continued that the captor also is tanned, showing he has been outside regularly.[11] The Israeli foreign ministry also mentioned the contrast in a tweet.[12] At a United Nations Security Council discussion on the hostage crisis, Ilay David spoke about his brother's conditions and criticized the council for their silence, and what he views as complicity in the continued crisis.[13]
The video was also condemned by several world leaders:
France – President Emmanuel Macron called it "abject cruelty, an unlimited inhumanity", which "embodies Hamas".[8]
Germany – Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was "appalled" by the footage. "Hamas is torturing hostages, terrorising Israel, and using Gaza’s population as a human shield."[8]
ICRC – The organization stated it was "appalled" and that this is "stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held". They called for access to the hostages to assess their condition, provide medical support, as well as contact with their families.[9]
Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "profound shock" and told hostage families that the govern "will continue constantly and relentlessly" seek their release.[9]
United Kingdom – Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that "images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening" and the hostages must be released "unconditionally".[9]
United States – President Donald Trump responded to a question at a press conference, saying that the video was "horrible" and he hoped more people would see it.[14][15]
Netanyahu spoke with the regional head of the International Committee of the Red Cross and "asked for his involvement in the immediate providing of food and medical care to our hostages".[8] The Israeli government placed an advertisement photograph of David on a billboard in Times Square, with the captions "Hamas is starving the Israeli hostages" and "Ignored by the media too busy echoing Hamas propaganda". The display was intended to highlight the ongoing Gaza war hostage crisis, in light of allegations of famine in Gaza, which Israel Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis labelled a blood libel.[16] The American Jewish Committee took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times which showed side by side photos of David before his kidnapping and a still from the video, beneath the caption "Kidnapped. Starved."[17][non-primary source needed]
Columnist Aviya Kushner wrote in The Forward that there is a stark difference between portrayals of the video in Israeli and American media. Israeli media shows the full video, while American media shows selectively-picked stills.[18]
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