“This is the grave I think I’ll be buried in. Time is running out.” The words spoken by 24-year-old Evyatar David in a video released by the terrorist group Hamas in August, went around the world and became a symbol of the suffering of the Israeli hostages captured by the Palestinians during the attack on October 7, 2023. In the record, the young man appeared malnourished, inside a tunnel in Gaza, digging his own grave – believing he would die there.
This Monday (13), more than 700 days after being kidnapped while participating in the Nova music festival, Evyatar breathed the air of freedom again and was reunited with his parents, Avishai and Galia, in a hospital in central Israel. He was released along with 19 other hostages alive as part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
In images released by international agencies, the young man appears smilingin disbelief, with his hands over his head before hugging parents in tears.
Evyatar David was reunited with his family and told them, “everything is okay already.”
His immense strength and determination are apparent, representing that of Am Yisrael. ????????????
May Evyatar begin his healing journey after the most horrific, unimaginable, 2-year-long period of… pic.twitter.com/NBjhMZo9bO
— Maccabee Task Force (@MacTaskForce) October 13, 2025
“We can’t wait to hug him, feel him and breathe with him again,” said his father, Avishai David, in an interview with the broadcaster Channel 12 days before his release.
In addition to family, Evyatar’s friends also accompanied his return with emotion. Omer Levi and Guy Melamed, who served alongside him in the Israeli Navy and have maintained friendship since their youth, told the The Jerusalem Post how they experienced the moment their friend was taken by Hamas. They remember October 7, 2023, when the first images of the kidnapping emerged, which occurred during the terrorist attack on the Nova music festival, where Evyatar was accompanied by another childhood friend.
“At first we thought he was still in Israel, perhaps in a shelter, but half an hour later another video appeared with him being taken through the streets of Gaza. That’s when we realized it was too late,” reported Melamed.
The two experienced, from a distance, the same anguish that gripped the hostages’ families. “It’s a horrible feeling. You start to feel guilty that you’re living normally while he’s in tunnels in Gaza,” Melamed said. When the August video showed the friend digging his own grave, the pain turned to despair. “It’s like a two-sided coin. You see the video and it’s a sign of life, but at the same time you realize that time is running out,” Levi recalled.
The agreement between Hamas and Israel that brought back the last captive hostages in Gaza included the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
“This agreement is very difficult for the Israeli side. We are giving up many convicted terrorists, with blood on their hands. It is a tough decision”, acknowledged Omer Levi to Jerusalem Post. “But it shows the Jewish values of preserving life. I am proud to be part of a society willing to sacrifice so much for an individual,” they said.
