By Billy Stockwell, Eugenia Yosef, Ibrahim Dahman, Mitchell McCluskey, Dana Karni, Catherine Nicholls and Lauren Izso, CNN

(CNN) — Tens of thousands of protestors joined a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to call for the hostages still held in Gaza to be freed following the release of propaganda videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives.

Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad this week showed Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state. In one video, David – looking extremely thin – is shown digging a hole for what he says is his own grave.

Attendees of the rally – some holding placards reading “Stop the war” and “Leave no one behind” – watched part of the video featuring David, which had been projected onto a large screen after his family granted permission for it to be viewed.

They are among fifty hostages that remain in the territory, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

In what is likely to be an attempt to pile pressure on Israeli authorities, the militant groups released the videos with ceasefire talks stalled and as Palestinians face a mounting starvation crisis in the enclave. Health officials say 13 people have died from malnutrition in the past 48 hours, including one child, bringing the total death toll from starvation since the conflict began in 2023 to 175.

At the rally, Ofir Braslavski, the father of Rom, said that he did not recognize his son when he first saw him in the video.

“My Rom is hungry for bread, thirsty for water, sick, physically broken and mentally shattered. My child is dying!” he said. “I address you, (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu): Enough! The phased approach to deals has failed.

“Make the decision already – end the war and bring everyone here. The hostages, the fallen soldiers, the fighters, the reservists, and those displaced from their homes. We want to rehabilitate, to return to life, to breathe,” he added.

Rom Braslavski’s mother, Tami, said it’s important for the whole world to see her son’s condition while in captivity in a statement on Sunday.

“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,” she said.

‘Someone will be to blame,’ Witkoff says

Earlier on Saturday, Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy to the Middle East, attended Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” amid the protests, one day after he visited a controversial US-backed aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip.

Witkoff held a “very emotional meeting” that lasted nearly three hours with around 40 representatives of the hostage families, a source who was in attendance at the meeting told CNN.

During the meeting, Witkoff said ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas should be “all or nothing,” with all 50 hostages in Gaza being returned to Israel in one go, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum cited him as saying.

“The plan is not to expand the war, but to end it. We think the negotiations should be changed to all or nothing. End the war and bring all 50 hostages home at the same time – that’s the only way,” Witkoff reportedly said.

When asked, Witkoff’s team did not offer any further information on the special envoy’s comments.

The hostage families – who have frequently said that ongoing fighting in Gaza endangers their loved ones – on Saturday called for an end to the war in the territory and a “comprehensive deal” that would see the remaining hostages freed.

“Against the backdrop of horrifying footage and harsh reports about the hostages’ condition – hostage families will cry out this morning in the heart of Tel Aviv,” a statement from Israel’s hostage families said. “We appeal to the Israeli government and the US administration – look our loved ones – and us – in the eyes.”

Netanyahu spoke with the families of the hostages on Saturday evening and expressed “profound shock” over the harrowing images released by the militants.

He told the families that the “efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing, and will continue constantly and relentlessly,” according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu on Sunday requested that the International Red Cross helps to provide food and medical care to the hostages.

Hamas has opposed any access to the hostages by the Red Cross, who have only facilitated previous releases of hostages throughout the war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that it is “hugely disappointing” to not have not yet been able to gain access to the hostages in Gaza.

‘He has simply been forgotten there’

On Friday, the armed wing of Hamas released an undated video showing 24-year-old David – who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 – being held in a narrow cell. The undated footage of David is juxtaposed with images of starving Palestinian children.

On Saturday, Hamas released a new video featuring David which appears to be a longer version of the video released on Friday.

A similar propaganda video was published by Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Thursday showing Braslavski also in a frail state. Islamic Jihad said it was the last video taken of the hostage before the group lost contact in July with the militants holding him.

Earlier this week, a UN-backed food security agency warned that “the worst case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, its starkest alert yet as Israel faces growing international pressure to allow more food into the territory.

Hospitals across the Gaza Strip are overwhelmed, with bed occupancy reaching more than 200% at several facilities, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Beds are being placed in corridors and on floors to accommodate increasing numbers of patients and casualties, it said.

The Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that at least 104 people have been killed and more than 1,300 injured in the past 48 hours while waiting for aid in different parts of the territory.

The-CNN-Wire
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