Similar videos have previously been released by both Hamas and PIJ, and are often scripted. The IDF has said they are distributed as part of the groups’ campaign of “psychological warfare”.
Dispersed in the footage were clips of Braslavski lying down on the mattress, watching television, sitting slumped over and appearing in visible discomfort. “I am starting to die,” he said. “You must get me out of here.”
His captors “let” him “watch television and let me see children dying of hunger,” he said.
He claimed to no longer be able to eat or drink and that his captors are “inserting food by tube”.
Israeli-German hostage Rom Braslavski, held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 (Credit: -/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
Later he added that “if before, I occasionally had a little bit [of food], today there’s nothing left,” saying that he only ate “three grains of falafel” that day.
“I am dying,” he said, and “every other prisoner [is in the] same physical and psychological state”.
PIJ claim Braslavski’s location is currently unknown, saying it has lost contact with the unit holding him
Reacting to the clip, his “deeply shaken” mother said of her son that “they broke him” and he is “skin and bones”.
“Six minutes of video – that’s all it took for Rom to break on camera. But Rom has been there for 664 days. They must all be brought home now,” a statement from the family read.
Demanding an immediate meeting with Israeli security, political and military leadership, the family said they “don’t understand” what Israeli officials are “doing all day” and that “no one has even called to update us”. Braslavski, they claimed, has “simply been forgotten”.
The statement made a direct appeal to US President Donald Trump to bring their son home and urged US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is currently on a visit to Israel and Gaza, to watch the video of their son.
An off-duty soldier and Jerusalem resident, Braslavski was abducted on October 7 from the Nova music festival where he was working as a security guard.
In April, PIJ released another proof-of-life video of Braslavski, likely also scripted by his captors, in which he said he was experiencing “hell” and where he made his own direct appeal to Trump.
Posting to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote on Thursday that “the fastest way” for the conflict to end is for Hamas to surrender and release the remaining hostages.
On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Witkoff after the collapse of indirect ceasefire negotiations between Jerusalem and Hamas last week in Doha.
Palestinian terror groups hold 50 hostages – 49 of whom were taken on October 7. According to Israeli estimates, 20 of the captives are believed to be alive.
