(NewsNation) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly moving toward a full military occupation of the Gaza Strip, with his security Cabinet expected to meet on Tuesday to make a formal decision.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled for months, leaving at least 20 living hostages suffering in limbo awaiting rescue.
One of those hostages is Evyatar David. David’s cousin, Matan Eshet, appeared on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” after his family saw him in a video this weekend for the first time since March, digging his own grave.
“It’s nothing you could ever picture,” said Eshet. “It’s photos that we recognize from the dark days of the 1940s.
“Even in our worst dreams, we can’t imagine him looking like that, being so thin, being so pale without his signature smile or light in his eyes. I didn’t imagine seeing my cousin so broken.”
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David was one of the over 200 people kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, at the Nova Music festival in Israel. In the video, David is severely malnourished and nearly unrecognizable, having spent 668 days in captivity.
David says in the video, “This is the grave I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”
“It gives us horrible flashbacks, to things we thought we were only going to see in pictures,” Eshet said. “It’s hard. I feel like I’m seeing my cousin dying in front of my eyes in this video.”
This screengrab from a video released on August 1, 2025 by the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, shows Israeli hostage Evyatar David in a tunnel. David, who turned 24 in captivity, was abducted during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. (Photo by Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades / AFP)
Families of hostages gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, on August 2, 2025, and watch a newly released video by Hamas showing Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage, in a severely malnourished condition. (Photo by ORI AVIRAM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
This screengrab from a video released on August 1, 2025 by the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, shows Israeli hostage Evyatar David in a tunnel. David, who turned 24 in captivity, was abducted during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. (Photo by Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades / AFP)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog holds a photo of David looking weak and malnourished, during a press conference with Lithuania’s President (not in picture) at the presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania on August 4, 2025. (Photo by PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Galya David (L) and Ilay Yosef David (R), mother and brother, sit next to a portrait of 22-year-old Evyatar David, held hostage by Palestinian Hamas militants during the October 7 attack, as they attend a press conference in Athens on November 6, 2023. (Photo by ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
David’s brother and father believe he is being starved and buried alive as part of a propaganda campaign. Some family members couldn’t even recognize his voice when they first saw the video.
“I think everyone can see that the way he looks like, you see that this is a dying person,” said Eshet. “Just in the glimpse and moment when the terrorist give him the canned food. You can see the difference in the terrorist’s arm compared to Evyatar’s arm.”
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Outrage has grown among Israelis after the video of David was released. David’s father is asking Netanyahu to do whatever is possible to bring the remaining hostages home.
“We usually say the moment he does enough is the moment they’ll be here. And if they are not here yet, he hasn’t done enough to make sure they come back,” Eshet said.
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