‘We want people fed’: Trump weighs in on Gaza as second hostage pleads for food

Deir al-Balah/Jerusalem: The family of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza has begged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rescue their son after a new propaganda video showed him lying weak and emaciated on a mattress, while pleading for food and water.

“I’ve run out of food and water,” Rom Braslavski says. “Before, yes, they would give me a little bit; today, there is nothing at all. Three pieces of falafel, that’s what I ate today. Yesterday, I barely ate a plate of rice.

“I’m on the verge of death, and I’m sure that, like me, all the other prisoners are in the same mental and physical state. Please, stop this hell that we are in. Please, stop this suffering that we are in. Just give us food – if not for the Gaza Strip, then for the hostages. Please bring us food and water.”

The hostage video is the second to be published with family permission in as many days. Footage of another emaciated hostage, Evyatar David, appearing to dig his own grave – filmed by someone whose arm seemed to be of regular width – triggered outrage across Israel on Saturday and condemnation of Hamas, as the Netanyahu government faces international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he wanted Israel to get food into the enclave.

“We want the people fed … We want Israel to get them fed,” Trump said before boarding Air Force One in Pennsylvania. “We don’t want people going hungry and we don’t want them to starve, and there’s some bad things happening.”

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that nearly 1600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks had been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs.

After the footage of David was released on Saturday, his family called on Israel to do more to ensure food aid reached the remaining hostages in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people also rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, urging Israel and the US to urgently pursue the hostages’ release after suspending ceasefire talks with Hamas.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had asked the Red Cross to help the hostages, including by providing food and medical care, during a conversation with the head of the Switzerland-based aid group’s local delegation. He also said the videos had made him more determined to eliminate Hamas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and called for access to the hostages.

Hamas said on Sunday that it was prepared to co-ordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to the hostages it was holding in Gaza if Israel met certain conditions, including permanently opening humanitarian corridors and halting airstrikes during the distribution of aid.

Hospitals in Gaza said 33 more Palestinians seeking aid had been killed by Israeli fire on Sunday, and six adults had died of malnutrition in the previous 24 hours. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Israel’s military said it was reviewing the Red Crescent’s claim.

According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas has barred humanitarian organisations from having any access to the hostages, and families have little or no details of their conditions.

The Braslavski family authorised the publication of part of the footage of their son on Sunday after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a longer video of him on Thursday. Braslavski, 22, was taken hostage from a music festival during Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The PIJ said that since the footage was filmed, it had lost contact with those holding Braslavski.

In comments reported by The Times of Israel, Braslavski’s father said he was watching his son die before his eyes, and that in a personal phone call with Netanyahu on Saturday, he had told the prime minister to get his son out of Gaza immediately.

Braslavski’s mother, Tami, said in a statement that she had made the difficult decision to release the footage to ensure the world knew of her son’s suffering.

“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, adding she had never seen her son as he had appeared in the footage.

“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 he may not come out of there alive.”

Meanwhile, far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited and prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and sparking fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions.

Photos and videos showed the national security minister leading Jewish prayers at the compound, which is known by Jews as the Temple Mount, in the walled Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.

The hillside area was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary. Today, it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Visits by Israeli officials are considered a provocation around the Muslim world, and openly praying violates a longstanding status quo. Jews have been allowed to tour the site but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security.

During his visit, Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated peace negotiations.

“From here, we need to bring a message and ensure that from today, we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of the Gaza Strip, take out every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary emigration,” he said on a video posted on social media after his visit.

He also raged against the videos released of the hostages and called it an attempt to pressure Israel.

Ben-Gvir’s previous visits have prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fuelled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Sunday’s visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

About 1200 people were killed in the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza, and another 251 were abducted. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive had killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn’t provided its own account of casualties.

AP, Reuters

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