A severely emaciated hostage held by the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip is forced to dig what is described as his “own grave” in a propaganda video released by the terrorist organisation.

The nearly five-minute clip shows 24-year-old Evyatar David, emaciated to the bone, in a narrow tunnel. His family approved the video’s release on Saturday.

“Hamas is using our son as a live experiment in a vile hunger campaign,” the family wrote in a statement. “He is being starved purely to serve Hamas’s propaganda.”

Mr David was abducted on October 7, 2023, while attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

In the video, he recounts the days in July when he was given only beans or lentils to eat, or nothing at all. He said that sometimes he went two or three consecutive days without eating anything.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr David said at one point, “I have been completely abandoned by you, my prime minister; by you, who should be taking care of me and all the other prisoners.”

In its propaganda, Hamas refers to its hostages as “prisoners”.

A visibly staged scene at the end of the clip shows David holding a shovel, digging a hollow area in the sandy floor of the tunnel.

“Here I am digging my own grave,” he says. He adds that he is growing weaker by the day and believes this will be his burial site.

The clip ends with the text message: “Only a ceasefire agreement will bring them (the hostages) back.”

(dpa/NAN)