JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government after Palestinian group Hamas released a video of an emaciated Israeli captive held in Gaza.

“Every member of the government should watch Evyatar (David)’s video tonight before going to sleep, and then try to fall asleep while thinking about Evyatar fighting to stay alive inside the tunnel,” he said on his X account.

In the video released by Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, David appeared severely emaciated as a result of Tel Aviv’s ongoing starvation policy in Gaza.

The video showed the captive sitting on a bed in a cramped room, his bones clearly protruding due to malnutrition. It also included earlier scenes of him inside a vehicle with another captive, watching the release of Israeli captives as part of a previous prisoner swap during a pause in January.

“I’m devastated, but I have one certainty: my son is alive, Evyatar is alive,” his mother Galia David said in comments carried by the public broadcaster KAN.

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, relatives of current and former captives have urged Netanyahu’s government to immediately conclude a swap deal to spare their loved ones the suffering they face in Gaza.

On Feb. 23, the Qassam Brigades aired a video of two captives inside a Hamas vehicle in shock while watching the release of other hostages — one of them being David, who was visibly malnourished.

At the time, the two captives addressed Netanyahu, urging him to continue the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal to ensure their return home.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has devastated the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.