Freed Jewish Captive Forced to Dig His Own Grave Returning to His Previous Personality', Father Reports
The father of a liberated Israeli hostage who was forced to dig his personal grave in a Gazan underground passage has reported that his son's health is "getting better every day".
The father was talking after his 24-year son Evyatar David and another two released hostages - Guy Gilboa Dalal and Eitan Mor - were discharged from medical center to a hero's welcome at their homes on Sunday.
"It's hard to describe how joyful it makes me feel to see him returning to his old self," the parent continued.
In August, two months before the hostage's freedom, Hamas had released a recording showing him extremely thin in a narrow concrete tunnel - a decision that provoked criticism from Israeli authorities and several international officials.
The father reported he was pleased to see his son's "energy improving every day, his color returning [to his face], his cheeks becoming fuller".
"Thank God, he endured and he's strong."
The parent said he had endured for several months aware that his son was only "80 kilometers away... and there was nothing I could do to help him".
"It devastated me," he stated, adding that he "couldn't sleep, eat, hydrate adequately."
In August, family member Ilay had labeled the Hamas recording as a "new form of brutality".
"He's a human skeleton. He was being deprived of food to the extent where he can be lifeless at any instant, and he endures a great deal," Ilay said at the period.
In the footage the material, the hostage mentioned: "I haven't consumed food for several days... I hardly obtained clean water." He was seen digging what he stated would be his own resting place.
On Sunday, joyful gatherings - comprising several companions and neighbours - greeted Evyatar David as he came back to his birthplace of Kfar Saba in central Israel.
The medical director, head at the medical facility where the three liberated captives were treated, mentioned their bodies still bore the marks of "this terrible detention".
"We can see their medical tests... and we've also listened to their experiences... they are not lying. You can witness the signs of this physiological injury. Their complexion reveals their story. You can observe the blemishes and the wounds."
But the medical professional stated further that the detainees "arrived tougher than they were previously".
The former hostage was abducted from the music gathering during the militant group's attack on southern Israeli territory on October 7th, 2023.
The former captive and another 19 alive detainees have been released by Hamas under the first phase of a American-mediated truce arrangement earlier this month.
Hamas has also transferred 15 out of twenty-eight deceased captives. 13 were Israelis, one was Nepalese and the remaining from Thailand.
In exchange, Israeli authorities has released 250 Palestinian inmates and one thousand seven hundred eighteen individuals from the Gaza Strip, and repatriated 15 remains of Arab individuals for every Israeli captive's corpse.
Israeli forces initiated a armed mission in the Gaza Strip in reaction to the 7 October 2023 offensive, in which militant group fighters murdered about twelve hundred people in Israel's southern region and captured two hundred fifty-one more individuals captive.
In excess of 68,000 individuals individuals have been killed by Israeli offensives in Gaza from that time, based on information from the militant group-controlled health department, whose figures are seen by the United Nations as reliable.
