Former hostage David Cunio described in an interview with Channel 12 News the harrowing days he endured in Hamas captivity and revealed the horrors he and his family suffered following their abduction on October 7, 2023.
While other members of the extended Cunio family fought for their lives in nearby homes, terrorists broke into David and his wife Sharon’s house and set it on fire. David tried to protect his family. When the smoke became unbearable, he attempted to escape with his daughter Yuli but was captured by terrorists.
Sharon and their daughter Emma remained inside the smoke-filled home and were later separated and abducted to Gaza individually. Sharon, David, and Yuli were taken to Gaza wounded, with no knowledge of Emma’s fate. “We were completely tormented by the thought that Emma wasn’t with us," David said. “We kept asking them, telling them there’s another girl who looks just like Yuli, named Emma, her twin sister, and asking if they could find her. But no one knew anything - it was total chaos. We barely ate or drank; we just couldn’t bear the thought that Emma wasn’t with us."
“It was very hard for me to function there," he recalled. “I felt the need to protect them all the time because I was the only man."
They were reunited with Emma at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, as terrorists filmed the moment for a cynical propaganda video. The reunion was painful. “We’re holding her and she doesn’t recognize us. She looks at us and keeps crying. Then Sharon sings to her and in the middle of the song she suddenly starts to calm down. With Yuli she connected immediately - no explanation needed."
On the 49th day, David was forced to part from Sharon and the girls, who were released in the first hostage deal. “The worst moment of my life was saying goodbye to Yuli, Emma, and Sharon. I begged everyone in the room not to give up on me, to get me out, because I knew they were all going home."
David described prolonged physical and psychological abuse in the tunnels, including starvation, inhumane living conditions, and brutal psychological warfare. “No food, no water. For a long period we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita a day. Each day you feel weaker, you lose weight, and we had to stand up every time they passed by - that was the hardest thing we did all day. Dizzy spells, people nearly fainting."
To survive, he focused on those waiting for him at home. “I would talk to the girls and to Sharon all the time." He found a hair tie belonging to his daughters in his pocket, and wore necklaces he made from date pits. “I would sit with them, close my eyes, and pray. I talked to them, told them I loved them, that they were the most precious thing in the world to me. Every time you pray, you cry. But it gave me strength, brought me back to my reality, helped me cope - even a little - with what was happening around me."
On the day of his release, he learned for the first time that his brother Ariel would be freed with him. “Suddenly the hangar door opens and they shout ‘David Cunio,’ and at that moment I understand Ariel is coming. I lift my head and see a tall guy with long hair, and I don’t realize it’s him. I get closer and then I understand. I start crying, hugging him, kissing him everywhere. I was the happiest man in the world that at least my little brother was okay - but I didn’t know about the rest of the family, and neither did he."
During a video call with their family on the morning of their release, they learned that all their relatives had survived the massacre. “We see Sharon and Arbel [Yehoud], and Ariel and I just cry."