Israel called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to demand the release of its emaciated hostages, including one seen digging his own grave. Their plight drew widespread sympathy — but the 2 million Palestinians starving in Gaza got even more.

Not only the Palestinians but most council members blamed the Israeli government and military for the two-month blockade of Gaza and failure to allow enough food into the conflict-wracked territory, where its health ministry has reported over 100 deaths from starvation, including many children.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who flew to New York to attend the council meeting, accused Russia and other unnamed council members as well as the international media of perpetuating “so many lies.” He pointed to Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s starvation of hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel “while the terrorists enjoy meat, fish and vegetables.”

Saar insisted that Israel is facilitating “huge amounts of aid into Gaza,” accusing Hamas of looting the food and other items and using it as “a financial tool” to sell and make money. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric has said there is no evidence of this.

Israel’s top diplomat also accused the Palestinians of inventing terrorism, and Hamas of wanting to continue the war against Israel instead of reaching a ceasefire.

“The world has been turned upside down while Hamas runs its propaganda machine,” Saar said. It’s “a world in which Israel is put on a bench of the accused while it fights for its survival. There is a name for it. It’s called antisemitism.”

Testimony came from Israeli hostages’ relatives

Itay David, the older brother of emaciated hostage Evyatar David, who was pictured over the weekend in a Gaza tunnel saying he was digging his own grave, urged the Security Council: “Do not let them die. We don’t have time. Do not let them spend another minute in darkness.”

Calling his brother “a living skeleton,” Itay urged the 15 council members in a video briefing to get humanitarian aid to the hostages, saying they are being broken psychologically and physically by Hamas and denied “the most basic necessities of life.”

British U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward reiterated the country’s support for the immediate release of all hostages and condemned parading them for propaganda purposes as a “depraved” act. “Hamas and its terrorist ideologies can have no place in the future governance of Gaza and should never again threaten Israel’s security,” she said.

Woodward recalled the hopeful ceasefire earlier this year when hostages were released and the U.N. was able to send large amounts of aid into Gaza. “Since the ceasefire ended, the suffering of the hostages and Palestinian civilians has plumbed to new and shocking depths,” she said. “Israel’s aid restrictions have led to famine now unfolding in Gaza,” as reported by international experts who monitor famine globally.

Woodward said she spoke to doctors last week who had served in Gaza. “They had seen children so malnourished that their wounds festered for months without healing,” she said, and saw baby formula confiscated by the Israeli military.

“I call on Israel now to act to alleviate the horrendous suffering,” she said.

Discussion focused on both sides

Sierra Leone’s U.N. ambassador, Michael Imran Kanu, commended Itay David’s advocacy for his brother and the hostages, condemned their “inhumane treatment,” and said Hamas’ hostage-taking is a war crime that must be prosecuted. But, said Kanu, “One atrocity cannot justify another.”

“While we express deep concern for the hostages, we cannot ignore the wider humanitarian catastrophe that has engulfed Gaza,” he said. “The people of Gaza have been subjected to a blockade and siege that deprived them of food, water, fuel and medical supplies,” which could also constitute a war crime.

Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea said President Donald Trump has recognized “real starvation” in Gaza and the United States is working to get assistance to civilians. She urged “those who have professed concern about the reported risk of famine” to support the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, which she said reported delivering more than 1.5 million meals on Sunday. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to get to its four food distribution sites.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, acknowledged “the distressing, unacceptable video” of 24-year-old Evyatar David, saying “We reject all inhumane and degrading treatment against anyone, especially persons held in captivity.”

But in a strong rebuke, he said, “Israel is demanding the world to take a stance against starvation when it is actually starving an entire civilian population, when it is shooting at them while they seek water and food.”