Not long ago he was digging his own grave – now Evyatar David emerges from the depths of hell a free man

Alongside fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, he was cruelly made to witness other hostages being released while he remained behind.

By Jewish Breaking News

After nearly two years in Hamas captivity, Evyatar David — once presumed near death — is finally free.

The world first saw him deep underground in Hamas’s terror tunnels, gaunt and hollow-eyed, forced to dig his own grave. Alongside fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, he was cruelly made to witness other hostages being released while he remained behind. Both men were also coerced into appearing in a Hamas propaganda video designed to manipulate global sympathy and disguise the true scale of the group’s brutality.

At the time, intelligence sources warned that Evyatar was “days away from death.” The footage of his frail condition shocked the world — a haunting reminder of the terror that continued beneath Gaza’s soil.

Today, Evyatar walks free.

The contrast could not be starker: sunlight instead of darkness, the sound of family instead of captors, the warmth of freedom instead of the chill of a tunnel wall. For nearly two years, he lived without day or night, surviving on scraps and faith alone. Now, he breathes freely again.

Those close to him describe his first hours back as overwhelming — a mix of disbelief, relief, and quiet gratitude. The bed he sleeps in, the food he eats, even the air he breathes — all have taken on sacred meaning.

Evyatar’s return marks not only the end of his personal nightmare but the closing of a dark and painful chapter in Israel’s history. Once forced to stare at the world through the lens of his captors, today he finally sees it through the eyes of a free man.