For the first time, Evyatar David has spoken publicly about the horrific Hamas video showing him, gaunt and frail, being forced to dig his own grave.

“I didn’t dig it fully,” he said. “But I did dig it, so it did take a lot of energy out of me, and it was very hard.”

“But I always believed that I was going to get out eventually. Maybe I looked very bad in the video—very skinny and weak—but I always had a lot of inner hope. I always thought about my family and my friends and my home—I knew I would go back. I had to believe.”