{"id":569879,"date":"2026-08-01T05:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/569879\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:56:32","slug":"former-hostage-evyatar-david-speaks-out-about-captivity-ptsd-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/569879\/","title":{"rendered":"Former hostage Evyatar David speaks out about captivity, PTSD, recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former hostage Evyatar David<\/a> spoke out for the first time since returning home, discussing his complicated rehabilitation process in a social media post on Thursday.<\/p>\n

David was abducted from the Nova music festival<\/a> on October 7, 2023, together with his childhood best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal. He was held hostage by Hamas until October 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

During that time, Hamas released propaganda videos of David, one of which showed him and Gilboa-Dalal forced to witness a staged release ceremony for other captives in February 2025, only to be left behind. The second, released in August 2025, showed David gaunt and pale, emaciated and digging his own grave, shocking the nation.<\/p>\n

In his social media post, David wrote about how he survived in Hamas<\/a> captivity one day at a time after his abduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kidnapped, taken into a dark tunnel, and all I could think about was surviving one more day. And then another day. Until I returned home,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the moments when I almost broke, what kept me going were thoughts of my parents, my family, my friends, and the hope that no one would give up on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

David also expressed appreciation for the love he received upon returning to the public, saying that \u201cthe people of Israel reminded me that there is also good in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, David wrote that his road to recovery has not been simple or straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am coping with PTSD<\/a> and flashbacks. There are moments when I am in a safe place, surrounded by people I love, but my mind still goes back there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood that surviving captivity is one thing. Truly recovering is another battle entirely,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

David said he isn\u2019t looking for pity, nor is he giving up on his dream of recovery. He still wishes to get married, start a family, and \u201ctruly return to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

To aid his efforts in doing so, his friends and family have launched a crowdfunding campaign on David\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are able to help by donating or sharing, I would be deeply grateful. And again, thank you for fighting for me,\u201d David said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former hostage Evyatar David spoke out for the first time since returning home, discussing his complicated rehabilitation process…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50,59,51,12428,85,46,43,48974,58],"class_list":["post-569879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-hostages","tag-hamas","tag-hostage","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-nova-music-festival","tag-the-october-7-massacre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}