His brother’s keeper: Ilay David warns his brother, Hamas hostage Evyatar, is running out of time

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Ilay David speaks about his brother, Evyatar, who has been in Hamas captivity for almost a year and a half

Ilay calls his brother "the kindest soul" and says he just wants to play music together again.

Evyatar David, a music lover who dreams of working in the industry, is languishing in a Hamas tunnel, according to his brother, Ilay David. In a recent conversation with Fox News Digital, Ilay warned that his brother and all the hostages are running out of time.

“Every week we used to play music together. That’s what I miss the most,” Ilay told Fox News Digital. He has been fighting for Evyatar’s release since Oct. 7, 2023. Ilay described his brother as “the kindest soul I know.”

On Oct. 7, 2023, Evyatar was at the Nova music festival with three other friends when Hamas’ attacks began. Two of Evyatar’s friends did not survive the attacks, while he and his best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, were taken hostage.

Hamas hostage Evyatar David (left) stands next to his brother, Ilay David (right), in a photo taken prior to his kidnapping.

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Like many other hostage families, Evyatar’s family set up a website to tell the world who he is and why securing his freedom is so crucial. On the website, his family laments that his “vibrant life” was forever changed. There are also videos showcasing Evyatar’s guitar skills.

In February, the David family received a sign of life that Ilay described as being “shocking and amazing and frightening.” Evyatar and Guy were forced to participate in a Hamas propaganda film, a practice the terror group has employed throughout the war. In the video, the two men in their 20s appear frail and tired as they beg for their lives while being forced to watch a hostage release ceremony in Gaza. 

“When it was finished, I could breathe,” Ilay told Fox News Digital as he recalled watching the film for the first time. “I saw them alive. I saw that they are together.” 

Ilay’s relief washed away when he watched the video a second time.

“I saw how starved they are. They are half the men they used to be. And you could see in their eyes that they are exhausted, and they are begging for their lives,” Ilay told Fox News Digital. “They are broken, both of them, broken men.”

“They saw freedom, and they shut the door in their faces. And they threw them back into the tunnels. And that’s cruelty.”

Hamas hostage Evyatar David before his kidnapping.

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Ilay’s concerns about his brother have only grown since former hostages who were held with Evyatar detailed the conditions in which they were held. He told Fox News Digital that the former hostages said the two men have been underground in the tunnels for most of their captivity and were only able to see sunlight when they were taken to the ceremony. As is the case with most hostages, Evyatar and Guy are given very little to eat and have limited access to water. 

“But it’s only a matter of time until — I don’t know — one of the terrorists would just… be angry or upset. So, he will decide that he wants to execute, execute Evyatar or Guy. And I don’t want to think about it, but it happened already,” Ilay told Fox News Digital, likely referring to the six hostages who were shot dead in late August 2024, just before Israeli troops were able to reach them.

A poster with a photograph of Evyatar David, who is held hostage in Gaza, is placed on a table in front of Ilay David, his brother, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable discussion with family members of hostages held in Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12, 2025.  (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)

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Ilay told Fox News Digital he has done everything possible to tell his brother’s story and to make him “visible,” including going to Washington, D.C., to meet with American lawmakers. He believes President Donald Trump has a “very big role” to play in securing the release of Evyatar and the remaining hostages. 

“[Trump], no kidding, may be sent by God to save these people,” Ilay said. He cited the release of 33 hostages over the course of the ceasefire deal that only recently fell apart, and said that if it weren’t for Trump, those people would still be in Gaza.

Ilay told Fox News Digital that, in his eyes, the atrocities of Oct. 7 haven’t ended — they’re still happening for the people held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.