I haven’t watched the video of my little brother Evyatar.
I couldn’t.
Just hearing what’s in it nearly shattered me: Evyatar, just 24 years old, barely skin and bones, digging his own grave in a Hamas tunnel, whispering that he hasn’t eaten in days. Whispering that he’s afraid he’s going to die there.
That image now lives in my mind, even though I haven’t seen it.
I made a choice not to watch it — because if I do, I know I’ll crumble. And if I crumble, I won’t be able to fight for him. I won’t be able to speak for him.
So I keep going. Because I have no other choice. Even when the weight is unbearable.
Evyatar was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, a celebration of life and peace turned into a massacre. Since then, my family has lived in a nightmare. But nothing, nothing, prepared us for this.
The video, released by Hamas as sick propaganda, shows my brother as a living skeleton. He is starving. His eyes are hollow. His voice is barely there. He counts the days without food and water. He marks time on the walls like a prisoner. He digs a hole and calls it his grave.
This isn’t just psychological torture. This is a methodical act of starvation, an intentional, calculated crime designed to break him, and break us. Hamas is using my brother’s slow death to get attention. They’re turning his pain into a political tool.
My brother is being buried alive. And here’s the most horrifying truth: He might only have days left to live.
We don’t have time for more speeches, more handshakes, more empty declarations. We need action. Now.
I’m speaking directly to the leaders of the world. To President Trump. To every country that claims to stand for human rights. You are running out of time to save my brother.
Don’t let Evyatar die in that tunnel. Don’t let him starve to death while you look the other way. Don’t let him become a symbol we cry over after it’s too late.
He is not a headline. He is not a bargaining chip. He is a human being. He is my brother. And he is still alive — barely.
Never hurt anyone
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Let me tell you who Evyatar is.
He’s the middle of three siblings. He’s gentle. He’s goofy. He laughs at his own jokes and always makes people around him smile. He loves music, especially rock ’n’ roll.
He never hurt anyone. His only “crime” was going to a party with his friends.
That’s who’s dying in that tunnel.
A kind, full-of-life young man who should be out in the world, falling in love, chasing dreams, living freely.
Instead, he’s withering away in the dark, starved and forgotten.
I don’t know how to scream loud enough to make the world care. But I’m screaming anyway.
Evyatar and the other hostages, all 50 of them, are victims of deliberate cruelty. The humanitarian aid that enters Gaza must reach them, too.
Hamas’ words and declarations are not enough. We need proof, real proof, that they are providing the hostages with food, water and medical care.
Every organization sending food and supplies to civilians must also demand proof that hostages are being fed and treated. And if Hamas refuses, the world must respond.
Plea for ‘one bold deal’
The only thing standing between the hostages and freedom is Hamas, the same terrorist regime that starves both its hostages and its own people.
Every ounce of international pressure must be aimed directly at them.
Silence is complicity. You don’t need to know Evyatar to fight for him. You just need to be human.
To President Trump: Thank you. You’ve spoken out for the hostages. You’ve given our families hope. Now, we turn to you again — with everything we have left — and ask for your help.
We believe, like the overwhelming majority of Israelis, that only a comprehensive agreement, one bold deal that brings all 50 hostages home, can end this nightmare and save Evyatar’s life.
Mr. President, we know you care. Please, use your influence, your leadership, your strength, to bring Evyatar and all 49 other hostages home. We believe you can make it happen.
We are running out of time. Help us bring them back before we are left with no one to welcome home at all.
Please.
Don’t let my little brother die like this.
