Sister of freed hostage: We didn't believe we'd come out of it, the happiness swallows everything

Yaala David, sister of released hostage Evyatar David, gives a statement at Rabin Medical Center “one last time.”

She first offers a message from her brother, who sends his love and thanks and says he cannot wait to get back “to everything.”

David says that when her brother was taken captive, their family became a different family and Israel became a different nation.

“It became our life. We dealt with it 24/7,” says David, who along with her other brother, Ilay David, became the public face of the family.

David says a Hamas propaganda video of her brother, looking skeletal and digging his own grave, intensified their anxiety.

Hamas-held hostage Evyatar David filmed digging what he says he fears will be his own grave in a tunnel in Gaza, in a Hamas propaganda video that his family cleared for publication on August 2, 2025.

“We counted every minute and ran in circles,” says David. “We didn’t believe we’d come out of it.”

Now, says David, she cannot believe he is home, and that they can say they are happy. She finds herself watching him with his friends, at Friday night dinner with friends and has to remind myself that he is actually here, he actually made it home.

“The happiness swallows everything but I know the euphoria will disappear and we’ll fight about who gets Mom’s car and whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher,” says David.

Evyatar David is reunited with family after he was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza on October 13, 2025. (IDF)

She thanks soldiers and reservists and their families for the sacrifices they made, and those who paid the highest price, losing their loved ones.

She thanks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and world leaders and ends with a vow to fight for every last hostage, “for their souls, for their families, for the future of this country.”

Ilay David, the eldest brother in the family, speaks in English, noting that their family feels different after 738 days of waiting for Evyatar.

“None of this would have been possible without leadership,” he says, offering the family’s deepest gratitude to US President Donald Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff and their teams, as well as the government of Israel and the hostage negotiating team.

“Strength, resistance and heart made miracles possible,” says Ilay David. “Your determination and faith brought my brother home.”