In an interview with Israel’s N12, recently released hostage Yarden Bibas – whose wife, Shiri, and two sons, Ariel and Kfir hy”d, were murdered in captivity – opened up about the harrowing months he spent in Hamas captivity — and the unbreakable bond he shared with his best friend, David Cunio, who remains a hostage in Gaza to this day.

Bibas revealed that during his time in captivity, he came face to face with Yahya Sinwar, the now-dead Hamas leader who orchestrated the October 7 massacre.

“Sinwar asked me what he could do for me,” Bibas recounted. “I told him I wanted to stay with David, my best friend. He promised it would be done.”

But that promise was short-lived. Just two to three weeks later, the two were forcibly separated. “David didn’t understand why, and neither did I,” Bibas said. The two managed only fleeting encounters in the tunnels after that—just long enough for “a quick and strong hug before continuing.”

Their bond dates back to first grade. And even in captivity, that connection offered a rare source of strength. Bibas recalled one painful yet profound moment when he briefly saw David again—the day David’s wife, Sharon, was released. “He passed by me in the tunnel. When he saw me, it was like he saw a ghost. We embraced before they took him away.”

For Bibas, that day was one of unbearable grief. He had just been told of the deaths of his wife Shiri and their two young sons, Ariel and Kfir. Devastated, he made only one request to his captors: to remain near David. “I was terrified at the thought of changing places,” he admitted. “But after that terrible news, I knew I had to be with him.”

The two men shared a mattress in the darkness of the tunnels. “David constantly thought of his daughters, of Sharon, and worried about his twin brother Eitan,” Bibas said. In a quiet act of kindness, David once arranged for a pillow to be brought to Bibas — a small but powerful gesture in a place devoid of comfort.

Now free, Bibas struggles with the contrast between his reality and that of his friend. “It seems unfair to have a large bed, hot water, and three meals a day while my best friend doesn’t have that,” he said.

“I just want him to stay strong,” Yarden said. “His daughters Emma and Yuli need their father to heal and rebuild. We’re all waiting for him.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)