Unspeakable Horrors
"Endless Brainwashing": Hostage Survivors Detail Sexual Abuse, Sewage Pits, and Unbreakable Bonds in Hamas Tunnels
Two lifelong friends, kidnapped on October 7th, reveal how they survived by splitting tiny rations and describe the profound relief of waking up in a bed, not a sewage-filled tunnel.
From Tunnel to 'Paradise'
Former Hamas captivity survivors Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David delivered a harrowing account of their ordeal at the Israel Hayom Conference in New York on Tuesday. The two men, who have been friends since they were eighteen months old, spent the majority of their time in the Gaza tunnel system together, transforming their already close relationship into an extraordinary bond of survival.
Speaking with Israel Hayom’s Yoav Limor, Evyatar reflected on life after release: “Waking up every morning and opening your eyes and seeing a bed and not a tunnel, it’s blessed. For us, we’re in paradise.”
Guy elaborated on the intensity of their connection forged underground: “Evyatar and I have truly been friends since we were a year and a half old... But in captivity, it became something else. It’s beyond saying brothers, friends, family.” Evyatar described their life as purely survival-based: “Everything you get, you split in two. Many times he would bring me things, mostly he brought me things, I won’t lie. It’s part of it, everything, everything.”
This bond was critical when Guy suffered severe shoulder muscle deterioration. “He would pull my pants down when I went to the toilet and pull them up when I came back. He lifted my arm, cleaned my armpit with a wipe, and lowered it again because I simply couldn’t move my shoulders,” Guy revealed.
Horror and Sexual Assault Revealed
The conditions they described were appalling. Evyatar spoke of the meager diet: “We ate a lot of lentils. We also ate a little rice when we got some. It was an entirely flat plate. You get a few legumes and a tiny piece of pita, nothing more.”
Guy went on to describe their immediate living space: “Four mattresses placed side by side next to a sewage pit.” He added the chilling detail: “I’m not comfortable saying this: It was a pit of feces, and we had to dig it. Inside that hole, worms grew and became flies that landed on the food we ate.”
In a moment of bravery, Guy Gilboa-Dalal chose to publicly reveal that he was sexually assaulted in captivity. “I was assaulted twice by the same terrorist who guarded me. I was stuck there in that same tunnel, I had nowhere to run, and I didn’t know how much further it could go,” he stated.
He explained his reason for speaking out: “I want people to know it’s not shameful to talk about this. Many people go through it. Not only on television, to talk about it with a therapist, someone who can help. It’s very important for me that people who went through these things know they’re not alone.”
Brainwashing and a Political Lifeline
Both survivors acknowledged the immense psychological toll, including crying frequently. “Crying releases something at the end of the day, it’s important,” Evyatar noted. He recalled a breaking point after two hostage exchange deals: “After Tal [Shoham] and Omer [Wenkert] left, I told Guy: ‘Listen, I’m not going to see my family.’ I went into panic, and that moment broke me.”
The pair were kept isolated from the outside world, receiving information primarily through Al Jazeera, used by their captors for constant psychological warfare. Guy explained: “They would tell us, ‘Your families aren’t fighting for you, the army is looking for you to kill you, the government doesn’t want you.’ It was endless brainwashing.” Guy also spent a year and a half not knowing the fate of his brother, who was with him at the Nova Music Festival from where they were kidnapped on October 7, 2023. “Just thinking about what could have happened to him it destroyed me,” he said.
Evyatar stressed the unexpected political factor in their freedom: “When Trump was elected, we were sure it would help us and it did. It’s largely because of him, a lot because of him that we’re here. I don’t know how much longer we could have stayed there without him,” he emphasized, pointing to the US President's role in negotiations.
The interview concluded with a surprise: Michal Gerstler, EL AL’s Director of Communications and Government Affairs, gifted the two men airline tickets to Thailand, Japan, or any destination of their choosing, stating: “If anyone deserves to feel the most at home in the world, it’s both of you.”