Hamas videos of emaciated Israeli hostages spark international condemnation
The videos sparked outrage in Israel and piled pressure on the government to secure the release of the hostages by any means necessary.
Tens of thousands of protesters joined a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening – some holding placards reading 'Stop the war' and 'Leave no one behind' – as they called for Netanyahu to strike a deal that would free the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
Videos released by the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week showed hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state.
Mr David's family have given permission for the media to use the video of him being held by Hamas.
On Sunday, the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Occupied Territories said that it was 'appalled' by the videos and urged that the 'dire situation must come to an end.'
Several world leaders also condemned the videos of the Israeli hostages, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing them as 'unbearable' and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying the images 'show that Hamas should have no role in Gaza's future.'
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "The images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening."Every hostage must be released unconditionally. Hamas must disarm and have no control over Gaza."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of not wanting a ceasefire deal and requested that the ICRC bring food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza, after public fury ignited over propaganda videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives.
Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that the prime minister spoke with Julien Lerisson, the head of the Red Cross delegation in the region, to request 'his involvement in the immediate provision of food and medical care for the hostages.'
The office also repeated Netanyahu's denial that starvation was rife in the enclave, despite a UN-backed food security agency's warning this week that 'the worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza.
Hamas has said it is prepared to 'deal positively' with any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to hostages, but only on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened up in Gaza.
The militant group claims that the hostages' emaciated state is a reflection of worsening conditions in the strip. However, other hostages who have been freed in the past have similarly appeared gaunt and frail at the time of their release and described malnourishment while in captivity.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said this weekend that the group does not intentionally starve the hostages, and that they eat the same food that Hamas fighters and the general Gaza population eat.
'They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,' he added.
A member of Hamas' political bureau, Izzat Al-Rashiq, described the images as 'the definitive response to all who deny the existence of famine in Gaza.'
Malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza spiked in July, the latest sign of a worsening hunger crisis, the World Health Organisation warned last week. The agency said the enclave's malnutrition rates reached 'alarming levels,' with more than 5,000 children under five admitted for outpatient treatment of malnutrition in just the first two weeks of July.
Palestinians also face lethal danger when attempting to collect aid from distribution sites, where violent clashes can erupt. On Sunday, a shooting incident near an aid site in northern Gaza killed at least 13 people and left dozens wounded, according to the Emergency and Medical Services in Gaza.
Allowing Red Cross access would be a shift for Hamas, which has previously opposed any access to the hostages by the humanitarian group.
The ICRC, which has only facilitated previous releases of hostages throughout the war, said in March that it was 'hugely disappointing' to have not yet been able to visit any hostages so far, emphasising that it was not for lack of trying.
Recent ceasefire talks have borne little fruit, with Israeli and US negotiators recalled from negotiations last month.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the time blamed Hamas for poor coordination and 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire,' saying the US would consider 'alternative options.'
On Sunday, Netanyahu cited the latest images of Hamas captives as evidence of bad faith. 'When I see this, I understand exactly what Hamas wants. They don't want a deal. They want to break us with these horrifying videos, with the false horror propaganda they're spreading around the world,' he said.
The Israeli leader is now 'pushing for the freeing of the hostages through military defeat (of Hamas),' one Israeli official told CNN on Sunday – a route that the hostages' families have repeatedly warned against.
As Israel's war in Gaza grinds on, it has faced increasing resistance from the Israeli public, whose frustration over the fates of the remaining hostages has intensified.
According to polling released by the Israel Democracy Institute during a ceasefire period in March, more than 70% of Israelis supported negotiating with Hamas for an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
The hostages' families have repeatedly urged Netanyahu to strike a deal, warning that Red Cross assistance alone will not be enough, and that further expansion of the fighting in Gaza could endanger the remaining hostages' lives.
'Netanyahu is preparing the greatest deception of all. The repeated claims of freeing hostages through military victory are a lie and a public fraud,' Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Sunday.
The group also condemned Hamas, saying it 'cannot hide the fact that we are dealing with an evil terrorist organisation that has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days.'
Hamas publicly insists that it remains committed to hostage release talks – but only if conditions in Gaza improve first.
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