"There are 59 Eli Sharabis underground - desperate for freedom; will you listen or will you look away?" Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
He spoke shortly after released hostage Eli Sharabi himself addressed the council, asking where the UN was during his 491 days in Gaza captivity.
Danon began by drawing attention to the plight of the hostages, "many of whom are barely holding on to life, starving in the dark, alone, afraid, suffering beyond what words can capture."
Danon added that the "cruelty here is not just from Hamas, but from the silence of the world."
"Where is the outrage?" he asked the council.
He mentioned how, of the 77 resolutions passed by the United Nations since October 7, not a single one has condemned Hamas.
Addressing the Algerian delegate specifically, Danon queried why the representative of the North African country had spent months "condemning and accusing Israel" but could "barely acknowledge Eli Sharabi's presence, and couldn't find the decency to even say his name."
"You have erased the hostages, spoken about Gaza without mentioning a word about Hamas," he added.
Silence over Hamas
Danon also directed condemnation to the wider UN Security Council, asking how they could have the "audacity to talk about a ceasefire without demanding that those held in Hamas's terror tunnels be freed."
"How can you claim to stand for international law while ignoring the hostages as they languish in conditions that defy human comprehension."
Such silence, Danon continued, equals a "moral collapse of the highest order."
Furthermore, Danon condemned the lack of action by the Red Cross, saying that for "530 days, the Red Cross has continued to act according to Hamas's playbook."
Moving to the topic of the renewed IDF military strikes and ground force operations in Gaza, Danon said, "There is one absolute certainty in this situation: the war will not end until the hostages are freed."
"This war does not end with hostages left underground," he said.
"The choice is simple," he concluded, "if you want a ceasefire, then pressure Hamas to release the hostages immediately."