The Hamas video showed them sitting in a minivan watching the propaganda-laden handover ceremony, and then turning to the cameras to plead with Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a second phase in the current ceasefire, which would allow the release of all the remaining 59 hostages (only a minority of whom are thought to be still alive).
The majority of Israelis and international public opinion, the Trump administration included, want a second phase but, as conceived in the original truce agreement in January, that would involve elements including a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which could bring down Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition.
“He will try with all of his might to bring back all the hostages, whether it’s second phase or another phase or another kind of deal,” Ilay said.
As for Netanyahu, he said: “I count on him to bring the hostages back and I think he understands that to bring them back is … something which goes to the core of the Jewish nation and the ethos of the Israeli state – solidarity and leaving no one behind.”.
For Ilay David, Evyatar’s older brother, the video was confirmation of an emotional certainty that the family had held on for the 16 months since the outbreak of war: he was alive.
