Graphic videos released this week by Hamas and Islamic Jihad show Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski gaunt and pleading for their lives nearly 22 months after their abduction. The images, the most disturbing to emerge so far, have intensified public pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a cease-fire-for-hostages deal and have prompted Israel to demand an emergency UN Security Council debate. Speaking at the Council on 5–6 August, David’s brother told diplomats his sibling has ‘days to live’, while France reiterated its demand for the immediate release of all captives and the restoration of a cease-fire. China and Pakistan echoed the appeal, and UN Assistant-Secretary-General Joyce Msuya said reports that Israel may widen military operations across Gaza were ‘deeply alarming’. Netanyahu, facing one of the largest protest turnouts in months at home, says his cabinet will meet this week to review options for defeating Hamas and rescuing the remaining hostages—about 49, of whom fewer than half are thought to be alive. Humanitarian agencies warn that Gaza is sliding from starvation into famine. UNICEF estimates that 28 children are dying every day, while the Gaza Health Ministry reports at least 93 child and 87 adult deaths directly linked to malnutrition and a war-time death toll exceeding 60,900. UN figures show almost 1,400 people have been killed while queuing for aid, including at least 25 shot dead on 5 August. Reuters adds that residents now subsist on just 3–5 litres of water daily, a fifth of the emergency minimum. The worsening crisis has drawn fresh condemnation of Israel’s conduct and of militant groups holding hostages. Diplomats from France, China, Pakistan and other nations told the Security Council that only an immediate, binding cease-fire and unrestricted aid flows can stem the rising death toll. Absent such a deal, aid workers, Gazan civilians and the remaining captives all face increasing risk as the conflict approaches its second anniversary.