David Cunio recounts the hell of his captivity: 'The thought of my family kept me alive'
"For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day," he says
In a moving testimony given to Israeli Channel N12, former hostage David Cunio spoke about the two years he spent in the hands of Hamas terrorists after the October 7, 2023 attack. He described the terror, the forced separation from his loved ones, hunger, and psychological warfare, but also the strength he drew from thinking about his family.
On October 7, while other members of the Cunio family were fighting to survive in neighboring houses, terrorists burst into David and Sharon’s home, set their house on fire, and violently tore them away from their lives. David tried to protect his wife and their daughters, Yuli and Emma, but he was ultimately captured while trying to escape with Yuli. Sharon and Emma were abducted separately. Injured, David, Sharon, and Yuli were taken to Gaza without knowing what had happened to Emma.
“We were tormented by the idea that Emma wasn’t with us,” he says. “We kept repeating that a little girl was missing, Yuli’s twin sister, but nobody knew anything. It was total chaos.”
The family was finally reunited at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a scene cynically exploited by the terrorists for a propaganda video. The reunion, although long hoped for, was heartbreaking: Emma did not recognize her parents until Sharon gradually managed to reassure her.
The most difficult moment for David, however, was the separation. On the 49th day, Sharon and the girls were released as part of the first hostage agreement, while he remained a prisoner. “Saying goodbye to Sharon, Yuli, and Emma was the worst moment of my life,” he confides. “I was begging not to be left behind.”
In the tunnels of Gaza, he endured extreme deprivation and mistreatment. “No food, no water. For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day,” he recounts. The hostages were forced to stand up whenever their captors passed by, despite weakness and dizziness, sometimes to the point of fainting.
To hold on, he clung mentally to his family. He would speak inwardly to his daughters, pray while holding a rubber band he’d found in his pocket, and wore improvised necklaces made with date pits around his neck. "It brought me back to reality, it gave me a bit of strength."
On the day of his release, he suddenly learns that his brother Ariel will be released with him. The reunion scene is overwhelmed with tears and emotion. But it is only during a video call with their family that they discover all their loved ones survived the massacre.
Today, David bears this testimony as a painful memory but also as proof of extraordinary human resilience: in the deepest darkness, the thought of those he loves kept him alive.