Since last October 7, Ohad Munder’s (9) desk has remained empty at his school in Kfar Saba in central Israel. “We are waiting for him and he knows it. Ohad will be back for sure. This is not the same without him,” admitted one of his classmates before learning that his friend, the athlete and trivia lover, was going to be included in the list of 13 children and women liberated by the fundamentalist group Hamas.
On October 7, Ohad and his mother Keren (54) were at Kibbutz Nir Oz to spend the weekend with his grandparents Abraham (78) and Ruti (78). That day and like other Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip, the small agricultural group was attacked by the armed wing of Hamas. The attackers kidnapped Ohad, her mother and grandmother while they murdered her uncle Roi. “Since then, I have taken sleeping pills and when I wake up I have feelings of guilt for not having been thinking about them while I sleep,” admitted Ohad’s father, Avi.
The grandfather remains in captivity like 200 other people somewhere in the Gaza Strip. There, perhaps in some Hamas tunnel, Ohad celebrated his ninth birthday a month ago, although November 24 can be added as his new birthday. His desk awaits him. And the stands of Hapoel Beer Sheva. This club was quick to express its joy for the fan it missed the most. “It’s good that you’re back home!” he wrote.
The first batch of the 50 hostages agreed upon until this Monday illuminated many Israeli homes that were praying for them and now they will continue praying for the rest in one of the most traumatic moments in the country’s history.
Hanna Peri (79) from Kibbutz Nirim, regained her freedom although leaving one son behind in captivity while the other was murdered. Peri is the only one of the 13 Israelis released this Friday who was not kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz. It is no coincidence since 77 (including 13 children) of the hostages of the so-called “Black Saturday” come from this pastoral town.
Like the Israeli Doron Katz Asher (34) and her little daughters Raz (4) and Aviv (2). In the so-called Kidnapped Square in Tel Aviv, her father and husband Yoni said: “Since her kidnapping, I have no life. My little girls should not be kidnapped by terrorists.” On October 7, and after hours of dramatic uncertainty, she was able to see in one of the videos on social networks an armed man trying to put a bandage on his wife’s head. It was the stark confirmation that hell was beginning for her family. For him, the beginning of a personal, national and international campaign in favor of her release that reached the White House and the Vatican. “Finally, they are here (…) There will be time to digest everything,” he wrote tonight on Facebook asking for the return of the rest of the hostages. Among them was his mother-in-law Efrat Katz (67).
One of the most well-known and surreal images of the massive kidnapping was that of an elderly woman being transported by Palestinian militiamen in a golf cart. “This is my grandmother! They kidnapped you without obstacles and took you to the Gaza Strip. Her name is Yaffa Adar and she is 85 years old!” her granddaughter Adva proclaimed amid indignation at her grandmother’s defenselessness, anger at having been kidnapped and scared of what could happen to her. This Holocaust survivor and one of the veterans of Kibbutz Nir Oz remains in Gaza as her grandson Tamir remains in the hands of Hamas.
The case of Hanna Katzir, 76, is especially dramatic because not many believed she was alive. Two weeks ago, Islamic Jihad released a video announcing her death in one of the Israeli bombings. It was not true. The one who was murdered was her husband Rami during the attack on the Kibbutz that also ended with the kidnapping of her son Elad.
“We have seen Adina on television and the joy has been incredible. We have suffered a lot and now we just want to hug her,” commented Korin after briefly seeing her mother-in-law Adina Moshe, 72, on the screen. This woman, who this Friday night was reunited in the hospital with her son Amos, was kidnapped in the small sealed room of her house where she had taken refuge from the projectiles and gunshots. . The shelter did not prevent the tragedy. The terrorists murdered her husband, a local farmer, and took her away on a motorcycle. The image also went viral. Her family, who managed to survive and be rescued in the kibbutz, no longer views the photo of her kidnapping with panic but with sadness but much relief.
Daniela Aloni (44) and her daughter Emilia (5), also with Argentine nationality, return home after being kidnapped on a Saturday like any other they spent with her aunt Sharon’s family in Nir Oz. In fact, their joy is not complete because Hamas still has Sharon, her husband David, and her three-year-old twin daughters Ella and Yuli in its hands. The mother and the two little girls, if they are alive, will be able to return in the next three days since they meet the requirements agreed upon in the negotiation led by Qatar.
Margalit Mozes (78) was recovering positively from cancer when she was kidnapped with her ex-husband Gadi Moses. “She loves life like few others,” her acquaintances confirm, remembering that a few months ago she participated in a cruise in northern Norway and had plans to travel to Mozambique in winter. In the end, she traveled against her will to the Gaza Strip with the luck of being able to return to tell the story.
While Israel was reunited with all of them, the list of the second batch of names, surnames and stories to be released this Saturday arrived.