The family of Rom Braslavski, a 22-year-old Israeli hostage held in Gaza, on Sunday authorized the partial release of a disturbing video showing him in visibly dire condition and pleading for help.
The footage was originally released last Thursday by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the terrorist group believed to be holding him.
Segment from Palestinian Islamic Jihad propaganda video depicting hostage Rom Braslavski, cleared for publication by captive family | viewer discretion advised
In the video, Braslavski appears frail, tearful and struggling to speak. “I can't stand or walk to the bathroom,” he says, his voice cracking. “I’ve run out of food and water. If before they gave me a little bit, now there’s nothing. Today I ate three falafel crumbs — three crumbs.”
It is likely that parts of the video were scripted by his captors, as part of psychological warfare tactics commonly used by terrorist groups. Still, the raw desperation in Braslavski’s statements has shaken the Israeli public.
The clip released Sunday is a shortened and edited version of the original, which PIJ claims was filmed about ten days before contact was lost with Braslavski and his captors. Shortly after the initial release, the family agreed to publish two still images from the footage, which showed him crying and appearing severely malnourished.
“I’m Rom Braslavski, 22, from Jerusalem,” he says in the newly published video segment. “I’ve been in Gaza for two years. I’m suffering in a way that can’t be described. Yesterday, I barely had a plate of rice. I can’t breathe. I can’t live.”
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Still from Palestinian Islamic Jihad propaganda video depicting hostage Rom Braslavski
He then addresses Israeli leaders directly: “You must stop what you’re doing. What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this to us? Bring in food. I’m surviving on less than a liter of water a day. I lie on a mattress 24 hours a day. I’m on the verge of death.”
Braslavski also pleads for aid not just for himself but for the others still held captive. “I’m sure all the hostages are in the same mental and physical state,” he says. “Please stop the hell we’re living in. Please stop the suffering. Just give us food — if not for Gaza, then at least for the hostages. Please give us food and water.”
The video follows the release of other hostage footage, including images of Evyatar David, 24, who also appeared severely weakened in captivity. The newly surfaced materials have reignited public outrage in Israel and heightened pressure on the government to act swiftly to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Barslavski's mother, Tammy, reacted with anguish. “The nightmare I was afraid to imagine is real,” she said.
Braslavski's father, Ofir, told Ynet on Sunday that he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous day, in a conversation he described as "difficult."
“It was a painful conversation,” he said. “We confronted him with everything we had to say, but got no answers. They just keep saying ‘yes, yes,’ while continuing with business as usual, like they have for the past two years. There’s no time left. The hostages are dying, and everyone keeps going about their lives.”
Braslavski described the call as tense and emotional. “The prime minister listened in silence,” he said. “I told him, ‘You and your wife looked us in the eye. Don’t disappoint us.’ This isn’t politics. My son is between life and death, he’s dying in agony. They must get them out today. Enough with the games. It’s been two years. This is death. It’s a Holocaust. The whole world, the whole nation, needs to understand that.”
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Braslavski added that his son, once emotionally resilient, now appears to have given up hope. “He never cried in his life, and now he looks like someone who no longer wants to live,” he said. “How can they leave him there like that? I don’t understand.”
PIJ claimed last month that it had lost contact with Braslavski and his captors — more than three months after the last sign of life was received from him. Following the group’s statement, his family said: “No one knows where Rom is. Neither the IDF nor Islamic Jihad knows anything. The only thing we were told is that he was being held alone.”
Previous Palestinian Islamic Jihad video showing hostage Rom Braslavsky, released in April
In its statement, the reliability of which remains unclear, PIJ said, “As of this moment, we do not know what has become of them.” Terror groups in Gaza have previously claimed that some hostages were wounded or killed in Israeli airstrikes, only for those claims to later be disproved — with some of the hostages in question eventually returning home alive.
The last video sign of life from Braslavski was received in April, 588 days after he was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the October 7 massacre. A week later, his family authorized the release of segments from the video. “I’ve been held in Gaza for over a year and a half — a year and a half of suffering and hell, day after day,” he said in the footage, parts of which were likely dictated by his captors. “What’s going to happen is simple — I’ll die and they’ll throw me into a pit of sand.”
Braslavski was abducted from the Nova festival, where he had been working as a security guard. After his kidnapping, numerous testimonies emerged about the courage he displayed on October 7, helping others escape from the attackers.