‘I am on the verge of death’: Family releases portion of propaganda clip of hostage Rom Braslavski

The family of hostage Rom Braslavski says it is allowing the publication of part of the propaganda video released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group last week showing him emaciated and begging for freedom.

In the clip, Braslavski, in tears, says he is “suffering with pain that doesn’t look good,” and that he is unable to stand or to walk.

“I don’t have any more food, or water, before they would give me a little bit, today there is nothing,” he says. He says he ate “three crumbs of falafel” that day, and the day earlier “barely a plate of rice.”

“I can’t sleep, I can’t live, you have to stop what you’re doing here,” he continues. “I am on the verge of death, and I’m sure that all the other [hostages] are in the same mental state.”

In a statement shared by the Hostages Families Forum, his mother, Tami, says that the video shows “the nightmare I was only afraid to imagine is real. The fear we live with has become more tangible than ever, and it’s important that the whole world sees this, despite my personal difficulty in publicly showing my Rom in the dire condition he’s in.”

Tami says that she has “never seen my son like this. Rom is not shouting or angry — he speaks quietly, in a weak voice like a person who has accepted the fact that there’s nothing left to fight for and may not come out of there alive.”

She adds: “My Rom, I look into your eyes and see the disappointment, your heartbreak. I listen to your voice and hear the pain. I don’t know what will happen, but I am doing and will do everything to get you out of there, and I won’t stop until you come home.”

Braslavski’s father, Ofir, tells Channel 12 news after it screens the video excerpt: “What can I say? He’s dying. You’re watching your son dying before your eyes and there’s nothing you can do.”

He says that the previous video released of Rom “was also hard to take. But he still had hope in his eyes. Now, he’s apparently lost that. He doesn’t want to live.” Ofir says that “it’s not just hunger… they’re torturing him… there’s no time left… he’ll die soon.”

Ofir says that he spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday: “I told him, he’s dying and… to stop everything… and give [Hamas] what they want, to get the hostages out,” he says.

He says that Netanyahu told him he was doing everything, but “I don’t buy it… The fact is that there’s no progress.”