Life, resumed

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 27th of January.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up: moving from death to life.

As you heard moments ago, Israel said yesterday it has recovered the remains of one hostage, marking the end of the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

REICHARD: Meanwhile, the family of another hostage … one who returned alive … is learning what recovery looks like now. WORLD’s Travis Kircher has the story.

SOUND: [Rejoicing in Hostages Square]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Pure rejoicing broke out in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on October 13th, after a ceasefire was reached and the terror group Hamas freed all 20 of the Israeli hostages who were still alive. The family of 24-year-old Evyatar David had stayed hopeful the day would come.

ILAY DAVID: And I know that he comes back eventually. I know that he will survive. That's something we pray for, but we also know.

That’s Evyatar’s older brother, 28-year-old Ilay David speaking less than two weeks earlier at the apartment where I was staying in Jerusalem. At the time, he didn’t know Evyatar’s release was imminent. But within a matter of days...

SOUND: [Evyatar David reunion]

Evyatar was enjoying tearful reunions with Ilay and the rest of his family. Audio here of Evyatar and fellow former hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal reuniting in the hospital.

SOUND: [Evyatar David reunion]

Now back in the States, I recently called Ilay to see how his brother has been doing since, and whether or not he’s adjusting to life as a free man.

DAVID: I think he's doing great. He came from, from literally hell, and he came back to life.

Ilay was upbeat. Especially since the last images he’d seen of his brother before he was freed were from a Hamas video released in August.

SOUND: [Evyatar video]

In it, Evyatar appeared emaciated, half starved, and said he was digging his own grave. That led to grave concerns about whether Evyatar would ultimately survive his captivity and about his physical condition were he ever released. And when he finally saw his brother in October, Ilay knew those concerns were justified.

DAVID: He came very, very frail and thin. He lost almost all his muscle mass and fat in his body. It was like, literally, skin on bones when he got to us.

In fact, Evyatar weighed little more than 120 pounds when he was returned by Hamas. But Ilay says he’s gained weight fast. And like many who’ve survived such ordeals, Evyatar had one specific food he’d been craving.

DAVID: He really wanted to eat a hamburger. He wanted a burger. That's it. [LAUGHS]

And something else. Ilay says Evyatar came back "jet lagged". His sleep schedule was out of alignment.

DAVID: He switched between day and night. He was sleeping during the day and awake during the night.

That’s partly because he spent most of his time in underground tunnels where day and night didn’t exist. But also: Evyatar wanted to minimize his contact with his abusive captors…so he slept while they worked.

DAVID: They could hear them digging the tunnels, and they could hear them praying their prayers. There was, like a schedule.

Then, a new challenge. During the last 50 days or so before he was released, Evyatar was placed in solitary confinement. But that changed in mid-October.

DAVID: He told me, “At some point I felt, I felt something—the energy was different in the room. I felt it, something different for my captors.”

Within days, he was taken to another location where he was reunited with his fellow captives. Three days after that: 

SOUND: [Cheers in Hostages Square]

Freedom Day, when all of them were released.

SOUND: [Cheers in Hostages Square]

Ilay says his brother is a naturally curious person, and even two years of captivity did not dampen that trait. That was obvious immediately.

DAVID: When he got to the helicopter, he just wanted to be with the pilot to see everything, all the electronics, and to hear how the helicopter works, how it functions.

Evyatar spent two weeks in the hospital and still faces several months of physical recovery, but Ilay says his strength is coming back to him. He also says his brother has privately told him horrifying stories about his captivity. Stories that Ilay says he won’t share publicly.

But Evyatar isn’t the only one healing. Ilay recalls a moment recently when he himself felt a sense of freedom.

DAVID: I saw him play the guitar, the first time during our time in the hospital. And I just, until that point, I couldn't like realize that he's here. And when he just, he just gave the first chord, I burst in tears completely for minutes and minutes and minutes. Two years of suffering just went out of me.

SOUND: [Singing in Hostages Square]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

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