CNN –
It has been more than 50 days since Hamas militants released Sharon Aloni Cunio and her 3-year-old twin daughters, but she still haunts and longs for her time as a hostage – much of which she says she spent in a Gaza hospital then her husband, who remains trapped in the Palestinian enclave.
“I'm both a mother and a father right now,” she told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. When her children are out of sight, she watches videos and listens to her husband David Cunio's voicemails “to feel connected to him – but I'm pretty depressed.”
Aloni Cunio's family was among more than 250 people kidnapped and taken to Gaza on October 7 during the Hamas attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people.
She told Cooper that although her family was separated in the chaos of the attacks, the four were reunited in captivity when militants hid them along with dozens of other hostages at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.
In a report that may support U.S. and Israeli assessments that hospitals were used to house hostages, Aloni Cunio said that there were three rooms at Nasser Hospital, each housing between 10 and 12 prisoners, and that they would be cared for by a nurse every other day. “He knew who we were, he went along with it,” she said.
CNN cannot independently verify Aloni Cunio's account. Following the interview, Hamas issued a statement on Thursday denying that Khan Younis' largest hospital was used to detain Israeli hostages. The group acknowledged that Aloni Cunio was held hostage during a temporary ceasefire and was released, but said it “rejects allegations” that she was held at Al-Nasser Hospital. The statement did not provide further details about where Aloni Cunio or her family were being held, and CNN cannot independently verify Hamas's claim to deny her account.
The 34-year-old also told Cooper that despite being released along with her twins Yuli and Emma during a week-long truce in late November, her freedom was bittersweet as she was forced to leave David behind.
“I couldn't be happy about the fact that we were released because I was worried about David, his health and his mental state,” she said.
Family Forum for Hostages and Missing Persons
Emma Cunio, 3, was separated from her family during the Oct. 7 attack.
Kidnapped and separated
On October 7, roving militants had set fire to their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz while the family, along with Aloni Cunio's sister and her child – Danielle Aloni and Amelia – were hiding in a safe room.
They were all kidnapped as they fled the burning house, but in the melee Aloni Cunio and her husband were separated from one of the twins, Emma, and they feared the worst had happened to her.
Aloni Cunio was taken to Gaza on a tractor along with David and Yuli and held in a house guarded by two Hamas fighters. On their ninth day there, a neighboring house was shot at and they said they were then taken by ambulance to Nasser Hospital.
“They called an ambulance [and] disguised David as a corpse. They dressed me in traditional Arabic clothing, put Yuli on me and covered her with a sheet,” she said. “There were about three rooms with hostages [in the hospital]. There were 10 to 12 people in each, small rooms of 12 square meters. So not much space.”
There she was finally reunited with Emma. Hamas fighters wanted to film the family, “and suddenly I heard a baby's voice crying outside the door” that sounded like Emma, she said. At first she thought she was hallucinating, but someone came in with Emma and handed her to Aloni Cunio “like a package,” she said.
It took a few nights for Emma to adjust because “she woke up screaming and couldn't calm down for hours,” which led to the militants “yelling at us to be quiet,” she said.
Aloni Cunio spoke about the harsh living conditions they had to endure in captivity. They slept on a blood-soaked pillow, and there was a bathroom outside their room, but it could be hours before the door was opened – an ordeal, especially when “we all had diarrhea and vomiting.”
Eventually they were given a bucket and a glass to shower with, but she said she was only able to shower five or six times in the two months they were there. They were barely given anything to eat and she described the food they were given as moldy.
The whole time the situation was putting strain on the parents. Aloni Cunio wasn't on her depression medication and says she “cried almost every day.” David's frustration led him to “sometimes hit himself in the face until he bled,” she added.
Even when she learned she was set to be released, there was little cause for celebration.
David was escorted out of the room and informed by Hamas that the agreement with Israel was to send back only women and children. He was also told that he would be taken to where the other men were being held.
“We just sat there and cried and I begged him not to go and he told me he was so scared and asked me to fight for him,” she said.
She even tried to convince David to let her stay with him and let the twins return to Israel alone. “We have a great family on both sides, I know they will take good care of her,” she said of the conversation she had with him. But in the end she had no choice and David was taken away on November 24th.
Days later, the Red Cross brought Aloni Cunio and her daughters back to Israel.
Now she must watch from afar, but every report of a hostage's death in captivity only makes her more determined to secure the release of David and the other 104 hostages Israel believes are still living in Gaza.
“Everything has to be done to make a deal and bring her home,” she said, adding that she wants David to know that she is fighting for him.
“Because you deserve it and I love you and can’t wait to see you.”
This article has been updated with additional developments