Hawzah News Agency- The footage was juxtaposed with images of small emaciated children, their bones poking out from beneath their skin, as the number of children dying from starvation in Gaza under Israel’s offensive and aid restrictions continues to rise.
Nearly 170 people in Gaza — more than 90 of them children — have died from malnutrition since the war began, according to the Palestinian health ministry in the enclave, with the death toll climbing swiftly in recent weeks.
Speaking at a rally in in Tel Aviv on Saturday, David's relatives expressed fear he could face the same fate, with his brother Ilay David calling on the Israeli and U.S. governments to "do everything in your power, by any means necessary" to secure his release, according to statements shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The footage from Hamas came a day after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which is also holding Israeli hostages, released its own video appearing to show a visibly withered Rom Braslavski, who was also taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke "at length" with the families of the two men on Saturday night, expressing "deep shock" at the recordings released by Hamas, according to his office.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused Hamas of diverting aid from Palestinian civilians throughout the war. But multiple aid groups have said they saw no signs of aid diversion, while an internal U.S. government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft of aid supplies by Hamas, according to a report presented to State Department officials and later seen by NBC News.
Israel's deadly military offensive and crippling aid restrictions in recent months have caused the spiraling hunger crisis in Gaza, aid groups, including the United Nations, have repeatedly said.
Israel launched a blockade in March that barred the entry of aid into the enclave in the midst of its ceasefire with Hamas.
The world's leading body on hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said on Tuesday that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was already unfolding in the Palestinian enclave under Israel’s deadly military offensive. It noted that its warning was an alert and not a formal “famine classification''.
Source: NBC NEWS
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