Merz, Macron among leaders appalled by Hamas hostage videos

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron were among international leaders expressing their condemnation on Sunday of propaganda videos released by the Palestinian militant group Hamas showing emaciated Israeli hostages.

“I am appalled by the images of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski. Hamas is torturing the hostages, terrorizing Israel and using its own population in the Gaza Strip as a shield,” Merz told the German newspaper Bild.

“This is precisely why there is no way around a negotiated ceasefire for the time being. The release of all hostages is an absolute prerequisite for this.”

In the nearly five-minute video released on Saturday, hostage Evyatar David is so thin his bones stick out all over his body.

He points to a calendar and tells the viewers when he has eaten – and when not. At times, the 24-year-old has gone three days without food or water.

David is then forced to dig what he says is his “own grave” in the propaganda video released by the terrorist organization. His family approved the video’s release.

The images have prompted widespread criticism and a mass rally in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining 50 hostages, of which around 20 are believed to be still alive.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said “the images of Israeli hostages are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas.”

She also acknowledged the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, saying “large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need.”

Macron denounced the “unbearable images,” warning: “An abject cruelty, an unlimited inhumanity: this is what Hamas embodies.”

“We think with deep emotion of Evyatar David, Rom Braslavski, all the hostages still held captive, as well as their families and loved ones who have been plunged into hell for more than 660 days,” Macron wrote on X.

“France’s absolute priority and imperative is the immediate release of all hostages,” he stated. “We continue to act tirelessly toward this goal — to obtain their unconditional release, to promptly restore the ceasefire, and to enable the massive delivery of humanitarian aid, still blocked at Gaza’s borders.”

David and Braslavski were taken hostage during the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict according to the health authority controlled by Hamas.

The figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, though the vast majority of victims are said to be women, minors and the elderly.

Macron insisted that the release of the hostages and the end of the conflict must be accompanied by a “political solution.”

“That solution is the two-State solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace,” he argued. “It is the only possible path toward a future where justice, security, and dignity are guaranteed for all the peoples of the region.”

“Let there be no ambiguity: within this political vision that we uphold, we demand the total demilitarization of Hamas, its complete exclusion from any form of governance, and recognition of Israel by the State of Palestine,” said the French president.

Macron last month announced that France would recognize Palestine, prompting condemnation from Israel.