October 7 · Personal story
Ariel Cunio
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · October 13, 2025
Released alive on October 13, 2025, after 738 days in captivity.
01
Life before
Ariel Cunio grew up in Kibbutz Nir Oz as the youngest of four brothers, the sons of Silvia and Louis Cunio. The family’s life extended across the kibbutz: parents, brothers and grandmother lived nearby, and the homes that later came under attack were part of the close family world he knew. Ariel shared his home with his partner, Arbel Yehoud, also a Nir Oz resident. In the weeks before the attack, the couple had returned from a long journey through South and Central America and adopted a puppy.
02
October 7
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attackers invaded Nir Oz. Ariel and Arbel were taken from the kibbutz; his parents, brothers, grandmother and other relatives were also caught in the assault. A Nir Oz family account records that the previous evening, Ariel had joined David and Eitan at dinner with their parents, Silvia and Louis, in a gathering of about twenty relatives. The next morning, relatives were attacked in homes across the kibbutz. A Times of Israel report records that Ariel sent Eitan a message describing the scene as a horror film. Ariel later spoke about the anxiety of not knowing what had happened to them. The abduction began a separation from his family that lasted until his release two years later.
03
Captivity
In Gaza, Ariel was held above ground in homes and businesses, not in the underground conditions described by his brother David. In a joint interview published by Ynet in January 2026, Ariel said he was moved from place to place, mostly at night, hidden under blankets in vehicles. He described beatings and threats with knives and weapons. He said he heard no Hebrew for two years, only Arabic, and that captors gave hostages false claims about their families. Ariel believed his brother David was dead; David, held separately, also thought Ariel had died. They had no contact throughout captivity. Their later reunion revealed that each had endured fear for the other without knowing he was alive.
04
Return
Ariel was released alive on October 13, 2025. A Nir Oz community account identifies both brothers, David and Ariel, among those freed that day. The release ended 738 days of captivity. Ariel reunited with his parents and brothers and saw Arbel again after their separation. Arbel had been released earlier, after 482 days, according to the Times of Israel account. The family’s reunion brought people who had endured the same attack back together, but it could not restore the two years in which Ariel and his relatives had been unable to know one another’s fate.
05
Aftermath
In their January 16, 2026 joint interview, Ariel described trying to face the future rather than remain in the past. David said the brothers were receiving treatment and trying to understand how to live after captivity. Ariel spoke then about wanting to marry, build a family and return to life. The brothers’ account also made clear how captivity had separated them psychologically as well as physically: each had believed the other dead. It was their first joint interview since release.