00:00Mr. President, members of the Security Council, distinguished delegates,
00:08my name is Eli David, and I am speaking before you today not as a politician or a diplomat,
00:16but as a brother. My younger brother, Eviatar David, along with Guy Gilboa Adalal and 48 other
00:26hostages are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Eviatar is the kindest person I know.
00:36I learned from him how to be a better son. He is shy but full of life. He has the soul of a musician.
00:46He has played the guitar since he was 10, and we play together every week.
00:53I miss his smile, and I miss his hug, and I just want to see him hug my parents.
01:03Eviatar was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival at the age of 22. He went there to celebrate life,
01:12to dance, to enjoy the music he loves. Music is a very big part of who he is.
01:21Since that day, my brother and the other hostages have endured an unimaginable nightmare.
01:30This is not just a figure of speech. Their lives are truly hanging by a thread.
01:38We now know from medical reports and other indications that Eviatar, Guy, and the others are the brain of death.
01:50They may only have days left to live. Days. That is how urgent that is.
01:57They have each lost nearly half of their body weight. My little brother now weighs only around 40 kilograms.
02:08That's just around 90 pounds.
02:10Let's see this picture of me and my siblings. This is me right here. Here.
02:22This is me. My younger sister. This is Eviatar. Look at his smile.
02:30The world has heard about the atrocities of Hamas of October 7th and in the 22 months since.
02:46But what is happening to Eviatar and Guy is an act of calculated and depraved cruelty that defies human
02:54comprehension. We have heard the testimonies from those who were released from Hamas, Thanos.
03:01And every account makes our fears worse. When your brother, your son, your father, your partner
03:09is being held in Gaza, there is never good news. The only thing you can hold on to is that they might
03:17still be alive. But even that hope is fading. Because the truth is, we don't know how much time they have left.
03:28Five months ago, on February 22nd, we received what we thought at the time was the cruelest possible
03:37emotional torment to Eviatar. In February, after 500 days in captivity,
03:45Hamas broadcasted Eviatar and Guy. They were brought out of the tunnels. Hamas forced them to watch the fellow
03:56captives being released. Then Eviatar and Guy were sent back into the dark tunnels.
04:04We thought at the time that this was the pinnacle of evil, but then just this past weekend,
04:35we received a new video from hell. We were reminded just how much more cruel and inhumane Hamas and its
04:42Sikh partners are. My brother was a living skeleton. He had barely the strength to move or speak,
04:54his voice barely recognizable. In that video, my little brother was forced to speak to the world
05:01and then actively began to dig his own grave inside the filthy dark tunnel in Gaza.
05:10My mother and I could not even bring ourselves to watch it. We knew that if we did, we would be unable to
05:20function. My father and sister, however, felt they had to see him, to hear his voice,
05:27to feel him somehow. Now those images haunt them. My father cannot sleep and my mother has not stopped
05:36crying ever since. What would you do? If, God forbid, it was your son, brother, partner, father.
05:46We are here because we and the other hostage families cannot wait any longer. We need to reunite with
05:56them, to hug them, and to feel them close. There are still fathers whose children are waiting for
06:03their return. We are all waiting for everyone's return. For us, the mission is very clear and urgent.
06:12We must save Evatar's life and the life of his friend Guy. We must ensure that all hostages are
06:18being released immediately and unconditionally. We don't have more time. They don't have more time.
06:25And every minute counts.
06:29The last video also exposed another horrifying truth. As my younger brother, a living skeleton,
06:36was fought to speak and dig his future grave, you can see him, you can see the chubby and well-fed hand
06:44of Hamas terrorists enter into the frame.
07:02This is the hand of his captor and this is my brother. You can see the hand is even thicker
07:10bigger than his leg, than my brother's leg.
07:29Suddenly, Hamas confirmed what we have known for months. The terrorists have plenty of food.
07:36The only ones starving in Hamas tunnels are the hostages. My brother, Guy, and the 48 others.
07:46According to testimonies, we know that the terrorists are in a room nearby. Not in the
07:53filthy dungeon where Evatar and Guy are held. They are choosing to starve them as part of a sick and
07:59twisted propaganda campaign. They use them and starve them as a weapon of war.
08:08Survivors of captivity, including Tal Shoham and Omer Venkert, were held in the same space with my
08:15brother, Aviatar, and his friend, Guy, testified to this. They told us that the terrorists always had
08:22plenty of food nearby and would even relish it loudly, while the hostages had none. It is all part of a
08:30calculated plan to torture the hostages, starve them, break their spirit, both psychologically and
08:38physically. This is a humanitarian crisis. The one of the hostages that is being discussed here.
08:50Not here in the Security Council, not in the other UN forums. The very soul of humanity is being scarred
08:59by Hamas' barbaric actions. We, the family of Aviatar, refuse to give up hope. We are weeping and suffering,
09:10but we are also fighting with every fiber of our being. We will not give up until we see him back home,
09:17until my mother and father can hug him again.
09:19I'm here to make a direct and urgent call to this esteemed body. First, we must demand the immediate
09:31unconditional release of Aviatar David, Guy Gilboa Adalal, and all the other hostages leaving and
09:37desist. Not only demand, but put every leverage we can to do so. The time for deliberation has run out.
09:46Their lives depend on immediate action. Aviatar, Guy, and at the very least 18 other hostages are still
09:53alive. After 660 days, they have somehow managed to survive. And we call on you to rescue them from
10:03Hamas dungeons underground. Second, we must call for humanitarian aid to reach the hostages.
10:11While aid flows into Gaza to help the population, the hostages are being denied even the most basic
10:19necessities of life. They haven't received a shred of humanitarian aid since they were captive. This
10:26is a flagrant violation of international law. And third, we must recognize that this is a matter of life
10:36and death, requiring urgent medical intervention. Aviatar and Guy need immediate access to proper food
10:45and life-saving medical care. Every moment of delay is a step closer to a final tragic outcome.
10:55We all have responsibility. To the leaders of the world, to every member of this council,
11:07and to the global community, your silence is the face of this monstrous cruelty, its complicity.
11:19I urge you. Do not let them die. We don't have time. Do not let them spend another minute in darkness,
11:29suffering beyond imagination. While we do our part, demanding from the Israeli government
11:36to do everything to save the hostages, all pressure, all leaders should unite
11:42to pressure Hamas and its partners. Act now before it's too late.
11:50Sevi v'atar David. Bring my little brother home. Thank you.
