Seven released hostages leave hospital, receive rapturous welcome in hometowns
Cunio brothers speak of ‘new lives;’ Yavne streets fill for David Cunio; Berman twins swamped; Maxim Herkin urges unity, Elkana Bohbot signals heart; Yosef-Haim Ohana home at last
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSeven freed hostages were discharged from Sheba Medical Center on Sunday, nearly a week after they were released from Hamas captivity as part of the Gaza ceasefire.
Crowds lining the streets gave joyful, hearty welcomes to David and Ariel Cunio, Gali and Ziv Berman, Yosef-Haim Ohana, Maxim Herkin, and Elkana Bohbot as they arrived at their hometowns.
In separate statements announcing their releases, the hospital said the men will continue their outpatient treatment at the Returning to Life Clinic, designed for hostages and their immediate families.
The seven were abducted on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, sparking the Gaza war.
Ohana, Herkin, and Bohbot, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival; twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman were abducted by Hamas terrorists who overran Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and David and Ariel Cunio were taken hostage from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Hamas released 20 living hostages on Monday. Families of returned hostages have said their loved ones described torture, starvation, and long periods of isolation in captivity.
The bodies of the remaining 28 hostages who were killed on October 7 or died in captivity were meant to follow, but thus far, Hamas has only returned 12 of them.
In a video announcing their release from the hospital, the Cunio brothers jumped onscreen yelling, “boo!”
“Hello to all our wonderful nation, we were released from the darkness to the light,” said the brothers, who hail from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza border. “We know how much you worked for our release, and we want to thank each of you. You went out in all kinds of weather. In the hardest moments there, we felt you were fighting for us.”
They spoke about how their new lives “start now.”
David Cunio promised his two daughters, Emma and Yulia, that he would read them stories before bedtime and hug his wife, Sharon Alony Cunio.
The brothers thanked their parents and family, and then Ariel Cunio thanked his “beloved” girlfriend Arbel Yehud, a former hostage who was freed in January.
But the most important thing, they added, was to thank the IDF and Israeli security forces, and the families who “paid the biggest price” in the war: “You are our heroes.”
They also spoke about the remaining hostages whose bodies haven’t yet been released to Israel and said they will not stop fighting “until the last hostage returns to us.”
שורדי השבי דוד ואריאל קוניו במסר ראשון: ״המאבק לא נגמר, אסור לעצור עד שהחטוף האחרון חוזר״https://t.co/2TQ5Rx0dW2@shamambo pic.twitter.com/3ZlYCRF4CR
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) October 19, 2025
As David Cunio was driven from the hospital to his family’s temporary home, the streets of the central city of Yavne were filled with friends and neighbors holding Israeli and American flags.
דוד קוניו מגיע ליבנה ויש לו קבלת פנים pic.twitter.com/SIHvhmp3z7
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) October 19, 2025
Cunio leaned out of the car window to shake people’s hands.
His wife, a former hostage herself, has been living in Yavne with her parents since she and their twin daughters were released from Hamas captivity in November 2023.
קיבוץ בית גוברין. מחכים לחזרתם של גלי וזיוי. קרדיט אדר איל pic.twitter.com/qZCCW89fG8
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) October 19, 2025
Locals leaned in to hug him and wish him well as celebratory music played in the background and people clapped and cheered, particularly when the Cunios got out of the car with big smiles on their faces.
The Berman twins were also swamped by large crowds welcoming them at Kibbutz Beit Guvrin, home to their aunt, Macabit Mayer, a prominent figure in the campaign to free the hostages.
Well-wishers carried Israeli flags and yellow hostage flags, as well as banners of Maccabi Tel Aviv, their favorite soccer team.
The twin brothers leaned out of the car as it slowly drove down the street, blowing kisses and waving at the crowd, clearly overwhelmed by the attention.
They sang with the crowd, calling out their thanks.
“You guys are crazy people!” said Gali Berman, “we have no words.”
They held their own hostage poster when it was pushed into their hands, taking photos but deflecting most questions that were asked of them.
“We love you, we love you!” said Ziv Berman.
Thousands waited for Herkin in his hometown of Tirat Carmel where posters of his portrait were hung along streets with the slogan “Welcome back Maxim the hero.”
מקסים הרקין חזר לטירת כרמל וזכה לטקס חגיגי: "אל תאבדו את האחדות"
(נוב ראובני)@Nov_reuveny pic.twitter.com/ocNPSxWBhy— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 19, 2025
The municipality arranged a welcoming ceremony where Herkin, visibly moved, took to the stage to address the gathered crowds.
“I am here because of all of you,” he said. “I am out, I am free, I look up at the heavens, and I see a future for me.”
Herkin thanked those from the local community who had campaigned for his return, telling them they are “all one big family and that it would be sad if the unity was lost.
“Don’t lose that unity, stay together. Help one another,” he urged.
His daughter Monica, five, who lives in Russia with her mother, is expected to arrive in Israel next week to meet her father, the Ynet outlet reported.
Bohbot returned to Mevassert Zion, where he lives with his wife Rivka and young son, Ra’am. There, too, hundreds lined the streets of the Jerusalem suburb to welcome him home. As he was driven through the crowds in a minibus, with his son perched on his knees, Bohbot signaled a heart to the well-wishers using his hands.
To the sounds of drums and singing, the crowds called to raise him up on their shoulders as young men in yarmulkes and white shirts danced, their arms around one another.
After Bohbot arrived at his apartment, he appeared on the balcony and a rabbi spoke, asking Bohbot to recite the Jewish prayer for survival.
Bohbot tearfully repeated the blessing after the rabbi, as his mother and wife stood next to him.
Ohana, who was badly injured during the Hamas attack, returned to his home in Kiryat Malachi.
Back at Sheba, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber arrived to visit other freed hostages who are still receiving treatment.
In a video shared by a Chief Rabbinate spokesperson, Ber was seen singing and dancing in a circle with Bar Kupershtein and Segev Kalfon, who were released from captivity on Monday.
הרה"ר הגאון רבי קלמן בר בביקור במחלקת השבים בתל השומר: "על כולנו מוטלת החובה המוסרית להביא את החללים שנותרו בעזה לקבורה בישראל pic.twitter.com/Rsd4WcJiXW
— (((IsraelMatzav))) (@IsraelMatzav) October 19, 2025
According to the spokesperson, Kupershtein and Kalfon, who were both kidnapped at the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, shared some of their experiences in captivity with Ber.
“We thank the Creator of the World for the return of all the living hostages to their homes, and we bow our heads to the pain of the families whose loved ones have not returned,” Ber said.
“We all have a national and moral duty to act until [all the slain hostages] are brought to Israel for the proper burial they deserve,” he added.
The Times of Israel Community.