Photo of Rom Braslavski Sparks Urgent Pleas for Release of Hostages

Ofir Braslavski: “I saw the video, and I’m horrified. He’s a skeleton, on the verge of death — it was very hard to watch.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The family of hostage Rom Braslavski on Friday released a still image from a video published a day earlier by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, showing the Oct. 7 abductee in an emaciated and fragile state.

Former hostage Sasha Troufanov, who was held with Braslavski in captivity, said the change in his appearance was shocking.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing — that this is the same person I saw over a year ago,” he said.

“The faith and strength in his eyes have been replaced with sadness, depression, and helplessness.” Troufanov added, “The previous video was difficult, but today’s images — I can’t process. I hope everyone who believed we don’t need a deal, that eliminating Hamas is more important even at the expense of the hostages, woke up today and realized: We must bring them back now.”

Rom’s father, Ofir Braslavski, described the moment he saw the new footage. “I saw the video, and I’m horrified. He’s a skeleton, on the verge of death — it was very hard to watch,” he told Kan Reshet Bet radio.

“Ten days ago, we were told he disappeared with his captors. Since then, there’s been silence. Where is everyone? Why isn’t anyone speaking up? Everyone is hiding. The only thing keeping me going is the hope we’ll get him back, but you can see in the video he’s slipping away. How do we go on like this?”

Troufanov said the images leave no room for indifference. “Anyone who sees these images without heartbreak, without a deep sorrow and a will to do everything to get him out — has no compassion or humanity. His face reflects unimaginable pain. Thinking of what he is enduring is unbearable.”

He concluded with a biblical reminder. “The Torah says, ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.’ Anyone who thinks they can go on with life, concerned only for themselves while our brothers suffer in horrific captivity for 665 days — I cannot accept that. If we forget our brothers, we have already lost.”