Jerusalem — Early on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Ohad Ben Ami heard the alarm go off in his group of Kibbutz Be’eri. He and his spouse bumped into their residence’s protected room, the place they rapidly realized that one thing uncommon was occurring.
On his telephone, Ben Ami may see that alarms had been sounding at different, close by kibbutzim. There have been additionally reviews of airborne assaults. He shut the telephone off to keep away from panicking.
About quarter-hour later, he heard individuals outdoors.
“Then I understand that it is very severe, and it’s not only missile attack. It’s something much more complicated,” Ben Ami mentioned as Israel ready to mark two years for the reason that assault.
He began receiving messages from neighbors who advised him that attackers had entered their homes. So he crawled from his protected room to attempt to safe the doorways to his residence. Then, he was shot.
As he retreated to his protected room, attackers adopted him. They simply opened the door behind him, which was solely meant to guard these inside from projectiles or flames and couldn’t be locked.
After they entered, Ben Ami’s spouse was hidden, so Ben Ami advised them he was alone.
“I was sure I’m going to be dead,” he mentioned.
Former Israeli hostage Ohad Ben Ami stands at his home in Kibbutz Be’eri, from which he was kidnapped throughout the Hamas-led terrorist assault on Oct. 7, 2023, practically two years later, on Oct. 5, 2025.
Amir Levy/Getty
However in contrast to lots of his neighbors that day at Kibbutz Be’eri, Ben Ami wasn’t killed. Loaded into the again seat of a automobile, he was taken to Gaza, the place he would spend 491 days in captivity.
“In my mind, I’m down there”
Throughout his time as a hostage, Ben Ami was moved from residence to residence. Many didn’t have working water or functioning bathrooms.
“The conditions were very, very bad. Very bad. All the time, the IDF [Israeli military] is bombing. So we are very afraid to die from our bombs,” Ben Ami mentioned.
Generally he was held with different hostages, together with — for a time — his spouse Raz Ben Ami, who had been captured as properly. She was freed within the first hostage and prisoner alternate deal between Israel and Hamas later in 2023.
Former Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel (L) comforts her daughter Elan Tiv subsequent to former hostage Raz Ben Ami, throughout a go to to the fifty fifth session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 29, 2024.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty
Ben Ami was moved under floor, into the Hamas tunnel community, the place he mentioned there was no gentle, little or no meals, and the sanitary situations had been extraordinarily poor.
He was put into an space with two different hostages, Elkaha Bohbot and Bar Kuperstein. Three extra Israeli captives joined them, however the quantity of meals they obtained didn’t enhance.
“All the time, we are hungry. We are very nervous. We try to struggle and to get used to the situation,” he mentioned.
The group started to shed some pounds, making an attempt to divide very restricted meals amongst them. However regardless of the dire situations, Ben Ami managed to maintain going.
“They [Hamas] let us see television 15 minutes once in a month … so we saw that the people in Israel are fighting for us,” he mentioned. “They [Hamas] told us that our government don’t want us back. The army, Israeli army, is looking to kill us. The Israeli government won’t pay the price. And our families are quiet. But when we saw on the TV that all of Israel go out … this give us hope. Give us a lot of hope to proceed and be strong.”
In February this yr, Ben Ami was launched as a part of the final hostage and prisoner alternate deal, however his companions weren’t.
Israeli Ohad Ben Ami, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, waves to the group as he’s escorted by Hamas members earlier than being handed over to the Purple Cross in Deir al-Balah, within the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
“When I think of the five of my friends and all the 48 hostages that are still down there, I’m very, very worried for them,” Ben Ami mentioned. “I love my country, and I love the people, but our government is disconnected. And until now, I have the feeling of insult. I feel that they abandoned me.”
As negotiations are underway in Egypt on a deal that would doubtlessly see the discharge of all of the remaining hostages, Ben Ami says he’s hopeful.
“I speak and I talk — but in my mind, I’m down there. So until they come back, all the 48, I cannot live. I’m still a hostage. I’m a free man, but not in my soul,” he mentioned. “I ask all the sides to go to the middle and then … to shake hands and finish it and bring (home) all the hostages. To give our nation the time to recover, and also the Palestinians. They also need to recover from all this thing that happened.”
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