Galia David: "It's my life's mission to rescue Evyatar and bring him back to life"

צילום: שלו שלום, צילום וידאו: LONDON FILMED

“I came here today to tell you that Evyatar, my son, will come home. We will embrace him, and when you witness this reunion, perhaps on television or on social media, you will remember this meeting in London, 711 days after October 7,” Galia David, mother of Evyatar David, who was kidnapped to Gaza, began her remarks at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi Mind the Tech London 2025 conference.

“I want to use this stage to convey a few messages,” David continued. “The first is this: Evyatar, our son, will return and recover. I have seen abductees who returned after a year and a half, rebuilding their lives and being reborn. It is my life’s mission to rescue my son and bring him back. It is possible, and it is our responsibility: each person, in their own way, must do something to make this happen as quickly as possible. Each of you can act so that next year it will be Evyatar who stands here, telling you about survival and life after captivity.”

David said she often imagines what it will be like to meet her child again after so long - “the sweet, beloved child who only wanted to dance, and who was turned into a tool for political gain, terrorism and war.”

“Guy Gilboa Dalal and Evyatar are not tools of war,” she said. “They are childhood friends, connected since kindergarten, who were pushed into the nightmare created by Hamas. The world must stop turning a child who went dancing into a weapon that serves terror and fuels war. The hostages must be released unconditionally. That should be the clear message: stop the cycle of jihad and war.”

David called on the audience to “separate the Israeli–Palestinian conflict from the issue of the abductees. Otherwise, the hostages will be forgotten beneath the ground of Gaza for years to come. They already carry the burden of this war on their shoulders. Our children are not chess pieces in a conflict that began thousands of years ago. They are not its source, and they are certainly not its solution.”

She continued: “You might expect me to speak about an agreement and a ceasefire. Of course I want an agreement more than anything, and I want it immediately. But I am facing reality and know I cannot control the signing of a deal. Even if we block a thousand roads in front of the government, even if I burn myself in protest, even if Gaza is destroyed, Evyatar and our family will remain pawns in the world’s cruel hunger games. That’s why I’m focused on one thing: that as long as they remain in captivity they receive food and medical care as required by international law.”

David described videos released by Hamas as evidence of the hostages’ suffering. “The first, on October 7, shows him being led into Gaza, beaten, humiliated and terrified. The second, in late February, shows Guy and Evyatar forced to watch their friends being released, then returned to their hole in the Gaza tunnels. The cruelty knows no bounds.”

“In another video in August,” David said, referring to the most recent and harrowing footage, “Evyatar looks like a skeleton, pale, without sunlight or vitamins for over a year. He is starving. I barely knew my son; I refused to watch the entire video so that I could continue to function in the fight for his release.”

“The hostages who were with Evyatar in the most difficult moments did not recognize him,” she said. “His voice has changed. His condition is so bad that he is alive only by a miracle.” She argued that terrorist groups use hostages for political purposes: “Hamas has made this into a perverse art. They are starving my son as part of a hunger campaign — a human experiment for propaganda. Humanity must rise up against this, just as it rose up against famine elsewhere.”

David cited testimony from Tal Shoham, who was released in February and had shared space with Evyatar and Guy in the tunnels: “He said that next to their narrow hole there was a large room for Hamas with air conditioning, a television and lots of food. The terrorists ate well while they deliberately starved the hostages.”

“Tal hoped that after he and Omer were released, the little food that had been divided among four would be divided among two, so Evyatar and Guy would have more. But the latest video proved the opposite. Hamas cut the food even further, to less than 300 calories a day, if that.”

“After this video, I thought the world would cry out and demand food and water for the hostages,” David said. “I hoped leaders and humanitarian groups would press Qatar, Turkey and Egypt to demand that Evyatar and Guy receive food and water that are abundantly available nearby. That did not happen. There must be no concessions to terrorism. The free world’s double game must end.”

She urged the audience to act: “Use your voice. Write, speak and raise the alarm about the starvation of the hostages. Human beings are equal. Don’t give up, and don’t accept the fatalist claim that ‘it’s Hamas and nothing can be done.’”

“Imagine if 30 world leaders called Qatar, Egypt or Turkey and demanded assistance for the hostages,” she said. “Diplomatic and media pressure must be used. We cannot turn a blind eye to these Hamas hunger games. Each of you can do something so that Evyatar, Guy and the others finally receive food, water and medical care.”

David described a recent video of Guy being moved to Gaza City to serve as a human shield during Israeli operations: “My child went to a music festival and now he is being used to shield an army advance. To stop a war? To secure the release of terrorists? To justify or delegitimize a Palestinian state? All this on his hungry shoulders. Please, don’t let the world normalize this.”

She acknowledged the deep divisions in Israel about the conflict. “Some believe we are fighting for survival and that Hamas must be defeated at all costs. Others insist we must fight for our values, that we leave no one behind, that we uphold mutual responsibility and bring our people home. The kidnapped embody this truth: we are a people who cherish life and care for every Israeli wherever they are. That is what should ensure security for all of us.”

“Hamas has said many times, including recently, that it is willing to cede power to a technocratic government,” David noted. “In the Arab world, giving up power is seen as defeat. But the continuation of this war tells a different story, that Hamas has survived for two years.”

She then turned back to family memories: “Every Friday we had dinner together. Evyatar and Ilay played music. Yaela hurried them because she wanted to go out with friends. A normal family: arguments, hugs, meals and trips. Today Ilay and Yaela, Evyatar’s brother and sister, have matured a hundred years. They fight every day, every hour, for their brother, for my Evyatar.”

“My final message,” David concluded, “is there’s nothing like family. Call your mother every day and tell her you love her. Hug your father. Make time for your siblings. My Evyatar will return, and you can help make that happen. Each of you can do something. We really, really need your help.”