 "Hostages Eviatar David (left) and Guy Gilboa-Dalal speak in a Hamas propaganda video filmed at the site and time of the release ceremony in Gaza for three other captives, February 22, 2025. Screengrab: Telegram")
On the final day of the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas stirred controversy after the Palestinian group published a video showing Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal being forced to watch as other captives get freed. In the video shared on Saturday, the two Israeli hostages who were left behind were seen begging to be saved as well.
The footage garnered backlash with the families of the hostages describing it as “sickening”. They went on to accuse Hamas of using hostages as pawns for pushing its propaganda. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the group, citing its “humiliation” of hostages and announcing his decision to delay the release of Palestinian prisoners which was due to take place on Saturday, The Times of Israel reported.
The controversial footage shared by Hamas showed the two men in a vehicle, watching a handover ceremony for Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat. The hostages were seen pleading with Netanyahu to secure their release as well.
‘Save us please’
The two best friends, who were held captive during the October 7 attack, were seen looking from inside the vehicle toward the stage where the ceremony was being held. They repeatedly cover their faces with their hands. “Save us please,” the two repeat several times throughout the two-minute video.
It is pertinent to note that the video is the first sign of life from David. The pair were abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7. Meanwhile, the last time Gilboa-Dalal’s family had last received word was in June, last year, when they were told that he was still alive.
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View All“This is the best sign of life I could ask for, but on the other hand there’s nothing more cruel,” Gilboa-Dalal’s father Ilan Dalal told Channel 12 News. “It’s not surprising, because it’s Hamas, but it’s a new level of torture," he added. The families of both men have authorised the Israeli media to publish the footage with hopes that it could help win support to continue a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and secure their release.
“They forced them to watch their friends being released and then returned them to the tunnels,” Ilan told Israel Hayon. “They can’t continue. It’s simply inhumane," he furthered. While reacting to the video he mentioned that his son seemed thinner and scared. David’s sister, Yeela, called Hamas “monsters” after watching the footage.
“They are alive. They put both of them this morning in the most horrifying and evil situation they could be. There is no limit to the messed-up cynicism of these monsters. I admire you, my brothers," she wrote on Instagram.
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called the video an “act of psychological torture” and a “sickening display of cruelty”. “Every second counts. Our loved ones are suffering, tortured, and dying in the dark, suffocating tunnels of Hamas,” the group said in a statement.
“This nightmare cannot be allowed to continue for one more day,” it said, urging Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to reach an arrangement to bring home all the remaining captives from Gaza.