Kidnapping of Ariel Cunio
Israeli hostage taken by Hamas in 2023
Ariel Cunio (Hebrew: אריאל קוניו; born 12 June 1997) is an Israeli man who was abducted to the Gaza Strip with his brother David and others, on 7 October 2023 during the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz and was released on 13 October 2025, as part of the Israel–Hamas agreement.
Early life
Ariel Cunio was born to Silvia and Luis Cunio, an Argentine-born couple, and grew up in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. His parents had been members of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement while living in Argentina. Raised on the kibbutz, Cunio spent most of his life in Nir Oz, where he lived with his family and was an active member of the local community. He has three older brothers: Lucas, and twin brothers David and Eitan. David was kidnapped alongside Ariel.
Before 7 October 2023, Ariel was in a long-term relationship with Arbel Yehoud, with whom he lived in the Kibbutz. Ariel and Yehoud had just returned to Nir Oz from an extended trip to South America and Central America and had adopted a puppy weeks earlier.
Abduction
On the morning of 7 October 2023, Ariel and Yehoud were in Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas militants infiltrated the kibbutz. They were abducted together from their home and taken into the Gaza Strip.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kidnapping of Ariel Cunio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.