Proof of life and Hamas propaganda: A brother's story of waiting in hope

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00:00It was February the 22nd that, as part of psychological warfare being used by Hamas,

00:06his brother, Eviatar David, who is being held amongst the captives there, he was filmed as

00:13part of a propaganda video as others were released in a car with a friend of his, a guy,

00:20Guy Jobo Dallal, and they released this and Israel said this was cruel propaganda footage.

00:27We haven't shown it given clearly the duress that the men are under. Eli's with me as you can see.

00:32Great to have you on the program tonight. Just first of all, tell me, was that the first,

00:36had you heard anything about the condition, whether he was, your brother was alive before that?

00:42No, actually it's the first sign of life we've had. I mean, after more than 500 days,

00:48Hamas gave us the first sign of life. They didn't volunteer to do so. They never volunteered to give

00:55us any sign of life or any evidence of the conditions down there, but it gave us, it did

01:03gave us, we saw Eviatar and Guy together. We saw that they are alive. We saw that they are alive

01:11and that's what matters. We are fighting for the living. We are fighting for 59 hostages,

01:19which are not included in any agreement or phase or no humanitarian list.

01:26They were supposed to be at the second phase of the deal. There is no such thing right now.

01:31And we are talking about 24 young men. Some of them are fathers. All of them are sons of somebody,

01:39brothers of someone, and we are fighting for their lives right now.

01:43I've heard you before, Eli, just in the struggle just to be heard and try to bring about the

01:50release of your brother and other hostages, you know, in some sense, forcing yourself to speak

01:55to the media as uncomfortably as it clearly will be for you as well. And you've talked about your

02:00brother. He's like a rock. He's strong. He's got deep resolve. What did it, given the propaganda

02:06of that, I guess you still and the family will still have looked at that and got any sign you

02:09could from his condition and how you think he is? It's not the same. We saw him broken. I looked in

02:19his eyes. I saw that he wants to cry, but he holds himself very, very strong because if he cries,

02:27he breaks. So you could see in that video how they are treating our hostages. You could see

02:36clearly that they took citizens. My brother is a 24-year-old young man, a citizen who was taken

02:44from a music festival. He and his friend Guy Gilboa-Adelal. And they were put in a van. They

02:51were forced to watch their friends being released in the releasing parade that Hamas organizes every

02:58time they release hostages. And then the terrorists shut the door, slammed the door in their faces.

03:05So first of all, it was. And then, by the way, they throw them back into the tunnel,

03:10into the dungeons underground. So first of all, it was the first time they saw sunlight and felt

03:16fresh air on the faces since June. On June, they were taken down into the tunnels.

03:25And also you could see the cruelty, how Hamas terrorists are treating them. They are using them

03:32as pawns in a game, a twisted mind game. And it's a mental abuse, not only for us,

03:43the families. It's a mental abuse for them. Every second those people are down there,

03:49they are being abused. And it's like eternity for them. They are suffering. They are starving.

03:54They can die at any moment. And the atrocities that Hamas made on October 7th, still happening

04:00right now for 59 hostages. I know one thing that you've said previously and I noted in you that

04:08you're very, very closely connected to him, that you've had hope throughout that he would

04:13be alive. You said actually, I think you said you'd feel it otherwise if he wasn't. And you

04:18talked about how you'd looked into his eyes and you felt he was struggling. Also, tell us about

04:22him because he's a big musician, plays the guitar. And I think one thing that you still hold out

04:28massive hope for is you can go back to playing together musically when he comes out.

04:37Maybe the only good thing that we've heard about Evertar in captivity, the hostages that came back

04:43told us that while being underground, they try to hold to whatever they can to stay sane.

04:53And the strongest thing they're trying to do is play music. And they don't have any instruments.

05:00They just have the floor or a mattress or their bodies. And he and Guy, again,

05:07they are childhood friends and they grew up on the same songs. They are drumming

05:12and singing the songs they grew up on. And also, Evertar, my brother, sent messages to us

05:22through the hostages that were released and the message he sent me that he misses playing music

05:29with me. He misses singing with me. We had a tradition to play music and sing every week at

05:35my parents, me, my brother and my younger sister. And it's our bond. It's our connection. It's our

05:44way of bringing joy to our connection. And right now we have no music at home and we miss his hug

05:54and his smile and his look in his eyes. And knowing that he is holding to the same hope that I hold to

06:05playing music again, singing again. That's something that gave me a lot of strength to

06:13never give up and bring Evertar back and bring him his guitar the second he arrives at the

06:21hospital. And hopefully it will be soon. Very, very, very soon. When you hear that the US are

06:27holding unprecedented talks with Hamas, they've got a hostage envoy involved as well. How do you

06:33feel about that dynamic? Does it give you any more hope than what we were previously

06:37seeing with government negotiators from the Israeli side? First of all, as I understand,

06:45the American government is super committed to bring back all the hostages dead and alive.

06:53And that's amazing. And we are so grateful that Donald Trump used his determination and

07:04leadership in order to make the first phase of the deal happen. I mean, I think because of him,

07:12more than 30 hostages came back to their families, reunited with their communities. It's amazing.

07:18Amazing. And it wouldn't happen without Donald Trump and his team.

07:25I feel and think Donald Trump, President Trump and his team are still committed and trying to

07:35have direct negotiations with Hamas is one of their ways. They are thinking about the goal.

07:41And the goal is to retrieve all the hostages, to save all the hostages. They understand we

07:45are talking about human lives. So they're trying to do whatever they can. I think it's one of the

07:50ways. But I'll say in the end, it's the responsibility of the Israeli government

07:58and solidarity and leave no man behind. It's a core value in the Israeli society,

08:07the Israeli state. And we know that the Israeli government will do anything to bring back the

08:14hostages. But again, it's its responsibility. And I hope that President Trump supports that.

08:23You're a great guy, Eli. I can tell just from speaking to you. And I really hope

08:27that soon you'll be back to play music with your brother,

08:32Aviatar. Thank you for talking to us. And thank you for talking to Friends 24 this evening.

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