Hostages Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa-Dalal chained, starved, kept in dark – report
According to info received by families, Gilboa-Dalal couldn’t talk for a month due to extreme dehydration, lost hearing in one ear; David held without glasses, can’t see
Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel
Hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal are being starved and kept in chains with bags over their heads while in captivity in Gaza, their families told Hebrew media on Saturday.
David and Gilboa-Dalal, who are best friends, are being held together in inhumane conditions, suffering physical and psychological torture daily, according to information received by their families, which they provided to Channel 12 news.
The report said that Gilboa-Dalal suffered extreme dehydration in captivity and could not talk for a month due to the discomfort. He has also lost his hearing in one ear. David, meanwhile, is unable to see as he is without his glasses.
The captives’ legs and hands are chained, they are provided with food in complete darkness so they can’t see what they are eating, and are only allowed to shower with a bucket once a month, according to the report.
The two were seen for the first time since their kidnapping on October 7, 2023, in a Hamas propaganda video released last month, being forced to watch a group of hostages get released, an act widely panned as cruel psychological torture.
The footage showed the two men in a vehicle, close to a stage, watching a handover ceremony for Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, and Omer Wenkert in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat and pleading for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure their release.
The two best friends were seen in the video looking from inside the vehicle toward the stage where the ceremony was being held. They repeatedly covered their faces with their hands.
“Save us please,” the two repeated several times over the course of the two-minute video, their expressions and exaggerated displays of dismay widely thought to have been the result of coaching from their armed captors, some of whom could also be seen in the footage.
Gilboa-Dalal’s father, Ilan Dalal, said at the time that his son seemed thinner and scared, but did not appear to have visible injuries from his ordeal.
Gilboa-Dalal and David were taken hostage from the Nova music festival and were spotted tied up in a tunnel in footage that emerged from Gaza later that day. Israel says 251 people were kidnapped and some 1,200 killed during the massive Hamas-led onslaught across southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Fifty-nine of the hostages are still held in Gaza; Israel has said 35 of them are dead.
Earlier this month, the military renewed operations in Gaza as a ceasefire lasting from January to February collapsed, sparking fears among hostage families that their loved ones’ lives will be in increased danger.
Some families received information on their loved ones’ status from those released during the ceasefire. The parents of hostage Alon Ohel have said their son is suffering life-threatening injuries and is on the brink of becoming blind, the mother of Matan Angrest has said she learned from a recently returned hostage that “he is alive and held under harsh conditions,” and the mother of Nimrod Cohen told The Times of Israel last month that a returning hostage reported seeing her son alive, though in poor physical and mental shape, some eight months ago.
The terms of the ceasefire stipulated that negotiations would begin in early February for a second phase of the deal. The outline for the phase broadly envisions the release of all remaining 24 living hostages in exchange for a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
But Netanyahu refused to end the war until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled and has accordingly refused to enter talks on the second phase, instead pushing for an extension of the phase one temporary ceasefire. Hamas refused, and Israel renewed intensive military operations throughout Gaza on March 18.
Israel confirmed on Saturday night that it had received a new ceasefire hostage release proposal from mediating countries and said it had made a counteroffer. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu held a series of consultations Friday night to discuss the proposal. On Saturday afternoon, Jerusalem responded with its own counterproposal, the PMO said, adding that this was done “in full coordination with the US.”
The Israeli statement came after media reports on Saturday said Hamas had agreed to an Egyptian proposal to release five living hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire in Gaza. According to multiple media reports, this does not meet the demands of Israel, which is insisting on the return of 10 or 11 living hostages to resume the truce, based on a previous proposal by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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