These are the survivors, the last 20 living hostages who spent 738 days in the unimaginable conditions of Hamas captivity yet never stopped hoping, yearning, and believing

“And all those who returned from captivity dwelt in their succos... and there was great joy in the land...”  (Nechemiah 8:17)

For the last two years, the entire Jewish world has been praying for them, fearing for their fate. And now, by the grace of Hashem, on Hoshana Rabbah -- the last day of Succos and the day of the sweetening of decrees -- they returned to the embrace of their families.

These are the survivors, the last 20 living hostages who spent 738 days in the unimaginable conditions of Hamas captivity yet never stopped hoping, yearning, and believing.

Devoted No Matter What

Bar Kuperstein (Bar Avraham ben Julia)

Bar was one of those sons upon whom the entire family leaned. When he was 16, his father , Tal, was injured in a car accident while volunteering for United Hatzalah, and a subsequent stroke meant he lost both speech and mobility. Bar took the reins and ran the family falafel enterprise until his army service.
Bar, who had just completed his army service, was working security for the Nova festival, and according to survivors, he began to care for those shot and injured by terrorists, going back again to help evacuate the wounded, instead of escaping and saving himself. It became clear from social media footage that Bar had been kidnapped to Gaza — hands and feet bound, shouting his name while held by terrorists.
Last winter, more than a year after his abduction, the family received the first sign of life from a Hamas propaganda video that they requested not be publicized.

Throughout Bar’s captivity, Tal held onto one goal. Although wheelchair-bound and unable to speak, he was determined to stand up and embrace his son when he would return from captivity. Two years later, in an emotional moment caught on film, Tal managed to stand and hug his son once again.

Partners in Peril

Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal (Evyatar ben Galia, Guy ben Merav)

Before being kidnapped, Evyatar was a charismatic Birthright counselor and musician from Kfar Saba. He and Guy, his childhood best friend from the Samarian town of Alfei Menashe, were the first two captives taken from the Nova music festival. (Guy’s older brother Gal was with them, but managed to escape).
During part of their captivity, they were held with Omer Wenkert and Tal Shhham, and during the release “ceremony” of Wenkert and Shoham in last winter’s second hostage deal, Hamas released a video showing Evyatar and Guy forced to watch that very release from the window of a car. The two friends, starved, gaunt, with buzzed hair, could be seen begging to be saved.

The video was the first public sign of life from Evyatar since his abduction. Former hostages testified that Evyatar was starved and tortured physically and mentally. He was also kidnapped without his glasses and could barely see.

Evyatar appeared in another Hamas video last summer, emaciated, holding a board marking the days of hunger. A second propaganda clip showed him forced to dig his own grave.

Guy and Evyatar were held together in a tunnel until about a month ago. Until then, the two friends kept each other going. It was reported that Guy has some hearing loss, so Evyatar would listen for him, while Guy — with good vision — became Evyatar’s eyes.

When they were separated, Guy was then taken for a ride in a vehicle around Gaza City, where he was put into a different tunnel with fellow hostage Alon Ohel.

Over the past month of their separation, Guy and Evyatar were force-fed, after the grave-digging video sparked an international outcry.

This week, the two friends were reunited once again, this time in freedom.

No Surrender

Eitan Mor (Eitan Avraham ben Efrat)

In the first days after October 7, Eitan was listed missing. Only later that week did an officer arrive at his family’s home in Kiryat Arba and confirm he was kidnapped.
Eitan, who was working as a security guard at the Nova festival, was only kidnapped later in the afternoon, after spending nearly nine hours evacuating injured party-goers to safe locations nearby. During those horrific hours, Eitan and his friend Elyakim Libman Hy”d returned to the festival grounds several times, under fire, to save complete strangers.

Tzvika Mor is founder and head of the Tikvah Forum, a hardline advocacy group composed of hostages’ families and friends, dedicated to the release of every hostage through a position of strength, not capitulation or surrender to terrorists’ demands, even if one of those hostages happens to be your own son.

Throughout Eitan’s captivity, his father opposed deals that didn’t guarantee Hamas’s destruction, showing courage that placed the nation above the individual.
This week, when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited him at Beilinson Hospital, Eitan told him that during captivity, he had conversations with Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, a Hamas military commander, who said: “If anyone goes first, it’ll be you — your father doesn’t protest, so we’ll release you first.”

Two years ago, when asked how his son would react to his stance against hostage deals, Tzvika said: “I can’t let my personal anguish take priority over collective interests. Letting terrorists go free endangers Jewish lives. And Eitan wouldn’t want that. We’d discussed it before. He told me that in the event he’d ever be taken prisoner, he should never be released in a lopsided deal. ”

I’d Rather Pray

Segev Kalfon (Segev ben Galit)

During their son’s captivity, Segev’s parents spoke little to the media. They preferred prayer and tapping into their emunah.
“I’d rather be home, praying,” his mother told Rebbetzin Yemima Mizrachi. “Faith strengthens me — we’ll do anything for Segev.”
Segev, whose family lives in Dimona, was at the Nova festival. When rockets began, his mother urged him to return home.
He never made it — on Route 232, the main artery where the festival was taking place, he and his friend Asaf encountered terrorists.
His father had just seen the footage of terrorists in Sderot and called to warn him. Segev answered, breathless: “There’s shooting. I’ll call you later.”
He and Asaf fled on foot. Asaf hid in a bush while Segev kept running — until Asaf saw him kidnapped and led to a white pickup truck.

His family had received reports from some of the freed hostages that were with him that “Segev is doing okay.

The Best Protection

Yosef Chaim Ohana (Yosef Chaim ben Miriam)

At the end of Succos two years ago, Yosef Chaim made a brachah on the lulav and esrog set his father had purchased for him. Without knowing why, his father placed a hand on his shoulder and told him, “May Hashem save you from death through the merit of these arba minim.”
Two days later, the world changed.
Yosef Chaim, from Kiryat Malachi, was at the Nova festival when the terrorists arrived. Amid the chaos, he helped evacuate the wounded before escaping toward the road with a friend. Moments later, an RPG was fired at them and he and his friend were separated. Both fought to survive. At first, he was listed missing, then confirmed kidnapped.
Hamas released several videos of him — frail, hungry, weak.
This week, Yosef Chaim returned home, and just before Succos was over, he took the arba minim that his father – with complete faith -- has bought for him at the beginning of the holiday.

Glimmer of Light

Avinatan Or (Avinatan ben Ditza Tirtza)

In the famous footage of Avinatan’s kidnapping from the music festival site, six terrorists struggle to overpower him as Noa Argamani reaches out to him as terrorists whisk her away on a motorcycle (she was saved with three other captives in the IDF rescue operation of June 2024).
Avinatan was part of an elite commando unit, although it was kept under wraps to avoid increasing his ransom value.
Though it was clear he’d been kidnapped, his family received no sign of life for months, until Hamas released a propaganda video in the spring of 2024 in which he made an appearance. But they hadn’t received a sign of life from him since.

Avinatan was held in the central Gaza Strip for most of the war under severe conditions, including prolonged starvation. An initial medical examination found that he had lost between 30% and 40% of his body weight. And in one of the most severe cases of isolation, Avinatan was held alone for more than two years and did not encounter any other captives until he was freed on Monday. At one point he noticed both a tunnel opening and inattentive guards, and so he tried to escape, but was caught and punished by being caged.
In the center of his hometown Shiloh, neighbors hung a sign: “Avinatan — lighting your way home.”

Don’t Leave Me

Alon Ohel (Alon ben Idit)

When the attack began, Alon and 26 others hid in shelters near the Re’im Junction. After a determined but hopeless battle, terrorists dragged several of the wounded out of the shelter  — including Alon — and murdered the rest.
The family had received no sign of life from Alon, a talented pianist, until released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy last year testified that they’d been with Alon for the duration of their captivity, and that he had shrapnel all over his body, including in one eye, and that he may have lost vision in both. He was bound in chains the entire time and had almost no food — at most one pita a day, and that was on a good day.

Sharabi said that he adopted Ohel as a son while in captivity and the two grew extremely close. Ohel became hysterical when Sharabi, who had been his support and anchor, was freed.

“I promised him I wouldn’t leave him there, that I would fight for him,” Sharabi said upon his release.

While Alon was chained inside a tunnel for most of his captivity, he was moved into a combat area of Gaza City at the beginning of the IDF’s offensive, to be used as a human shield.

Now I Can Smile

Nimrod Cohen (Nimrod ben Victoria)

On October 7, Nimrod Cohen of Rechovot was part of a tank crew together with — Shaked Dahan, Oz Daniel, and Capt. Omer Neutra — who were abducted as they fought off Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated their Nacha Oz base. The IDF confirmed the deaths of Dahan, Daniel and Neutra, but footage showed Cohen dragged from the tank, beaten, and loaded onto a pickup.
He was in captivity with others who were later freed, sending the message: “I’m alive, I love you,” although that was over a year ago, and his family has been concerned for his fate since.
This week, pale but smiling, he was reunited with his family — all emotion, no words, just tears and hugs.
“For two years I couldn’t smile,” his mother said. “Now I can finally breathe again.”

Is This Goodbye?

Matan Zangauker (Matan ben Einav)

When the attack began, Matan was asleep in his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz. He stayed in his safe room, unaware how serious it was until armed terrorists surrounded the house.
Moments before being taken, he texted his family goodbye. His mother, Einav, became one of the most vocal and aggressive faces of the protest for the hostages’ release at all costs.
Hamas released several videos of him — one showing him on a motorcycle between terrorists.
During captivity, it was feared he couldn’t stand, but this week he walked on his own.
On his way to Israel, a Hamas guard let him call his mother — an emotional call from captivity:
“Matan,” she said, “you’re coming home. Everyone’s coming home. G-d is great.”

No Deal

Maxim Herkin (Maxim ben Tella)

Maxim Herkin, 38, is a father of one and a resident of Tirat HaCarmel. The dual Russian-Israeli citizen was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother until he was kidnapped from the Nova festival. For six months, no one knew if Maxim, who had returned from Ukraine just a few days before he was kidnapped, was even alive. Hamas eventually released videos showing his dire physical state.
His family avoided publicity, instead appealing to the Kremlin to pressure Hamas, since his mother and baby daughter hold Russian citizenship. In a tentative agreement with Moscow, Maxim was to be released in the last hostage deal, but that never materialized.

Just a Few More Minutes

Elkana Buchbut (Elkana ben Ruchama)

When chaos erupted at the Nova, Elkana, 35 and the father of a six-year-old, got busy treating the wounded. His wife, Rivka, an immigrant from Colombia, begged him to flee, but he told them he was helping evacuate the injured before heading home to Mevasseret Tzion outside Jerusalem. That was the last conversation anyone had with him. Hours later, the family saw a video of Elkana in Gaza, beaten and bound.

Upon his return, doctors found he’d been tortured and starved, only fed before release to look better for the cameras. He’d been chained in a tunnel for most of his captivity, losing all sense of time and space.
“There’s still recovery ahead,” said the family, “but Elkana is a hero — we’ll get through this.”

Snatched from Home

Gali and Ziv Berman (Gali ben Talya, Ziv ben Talya)

Twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27, were abducted when Hamas terrorists overran Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The brothers lived in the kibbutz’s “young generation” neighborhood, which suffered a devastating loss: Out of the neighborhood’s 37 residents, 11 were murdered and seven were kidnapped. Their parents were eventually rescued, but all contact with the twins was lost.

For the next few days, until the IDF was able to take back control of Kfar Aza – where more than 60 of 400 residents were murdered and 18 abducted – the family didn’t know if Ziv and Gali were kidnapped or murdered. Ten days later, Hamas confirmed that both were hostages.

“When we were told they were kidnapped, we were actually joyful,” their older brother told the media at the time. “It’s such a weird thing. It was a glimmer of hope.”

The Siddur

Matan Angrest (Matan ben Anat)

Matan, a soldier from Kiryat Bialik, was kidnapped from his tank at the Nahal Oz base when it was attacked by Hamas. He was abducted along with fellow soldier Itay Chen, 19, who was killed in the attack. While Matan survived, he was covered with burns and filmed being yanked from the tank and beaten unconscious.

His father, Haggai Angrest, told reporters that Matan asked a senior Hamas officer for a siddur and somehow, his wish was granted. Matan used the siddur to daven three times a day.  “He couldn’t believe he could drink clean water or choose food,” his father said after his release. “He went through gehinnom — but he’s alive and growing stronger.”

Smoked Out

David and Ariel Cunio (David ben Sylvia, Ariel ben Sylvia)

David was kidnapped from Nir Oz with his wife and twin daughters. His brother Ariel was also taken — the only hostage from whom no sign of life was ever received. In the last message he sent to another brother, he wrote, “We are in a horror film.”

David and his wife Sharon were kidnapped along with their 3-year-old twin daughters Yuli and Emma, Sharon’s sister Danielle Aloni and Aloni’s 5-year-old daughter Emilia, who were visiting for the holiday weekend. They were forced out of the sealed room that has protected them for most of the day during the siege on the kibbutz, but were forced out when the house was set on fire. All but David were released in the November 2023 deal.

There had been no sign of life from David, who was best friends with released hostage Yarden Bibas (whose wife, Shiri, and little boys were murdered in captivity) until last February, when one of the returning hostages reported seeing him alive.

While there was next to no information about them during their two years in captivity, they’ve both been released into the embrace of their waiting families.

Good Spirits

Eitan Horn (Eitan ben Rut)

Eitan Horn, 37, had come from Kfar Saba to visit his older brother, Yair, for the holiday weekend. The family immigrated from Argentina years ago, and when sirens began sounding, warning of incoming rockets, their father, Itzik, heard that terrorists were attacking Kibbutz Nirim, he understood that Nir Oz would be next in line, given its location.

Eitan, an Israeli-Argentine dual citizen, works with various youth movements and served a stint as a Jewish Agency shaliach in Peru.

At first, Eitan was listed as missing, but it later became clear that both he and Yair had been kidnapped. Yair was freed in an earlier hostage deal, but Eitan remained. In a Hamas propaganda video, Eitan was seen pleading with Yair to fight for his release.

This week, Eitan – a big, heavy fellow — returned extremely thin, reportedly having lost 130 pounds. His family joked about his “diet.”
He said what kept him alive were thoughts of family and home. His relatives said they aren’t pressing him to speak — they’ll wait until he’s ready. “He’s in good spirits,” they said. “That’s what matters.”

The Longest Drive

Omri Miran (Omri ben Veronica Esther)

Omri, 47, a dual Hungarian-Israeli citizen who worked as a shiatsu therapist, was taken captive from his Nahal Oz home. While he, his wife Lishay and their two little girls were huddled in the safe room, terrorists kicked in a window and entered the house, holding onto a teenage neighbor they said they’d kill if the Mirans didn’t come out.

While the terrorists brought the family to a neighbor’s home where one of the children had already been killed, they decided to spare the family – everyone except for Omri, who they made drive with them in the Gaza Strip with his own car.

Over the last two years, Omri was held in 23 different places in Gaza, both above ground and in tunnels. His brother Nadav reported that he would often cook for his captors, and they loved his cooking. He also made sure to keep track of time, always knowing the date and how many days he was in captivity, and spending most of his days playing cards with his captors.

Omri’s father, Dani, had vowed not to shave until his son’s return, and throughout the captivity, his wife declared, “He’s alive. He’ll return. There’s no other option.” This week,  as he walked unassisted to greet his family, their faith was proven.

No Info

Rom Braslavsky (Rom ben Tamar)

Rom, now 21, was an active-duty soldier from Jerusalem who was working at the Nova festival while on army break when he was kidnapped — although that was never revealed publicly to avoid endangering him.

He was one of several security guards who saved lives at his own risk when the terrorists attacked. He was wounded in his hands bringing several people to safety, yet continued to save others, despite having the opportunity to escape, according to survivors who saw him in action. He was last seen in the early afternoon, several hours into the attack, helping a young party-goer who was hiding in a garbage container.

Rom was captured by Islamic Jihad, not Hamas — perhaps the reason there was no information about his fate until March 2025, when returned hostage Sasha Troufanov said he and Braslavsky had been held together for a short period.

Upon his release, Rom appeared extremely thin, reportedly surviving on three falafel balls or a few spoons of lentils a day, losing half his body weight. He was frail and sick, but still smiling and full of hope.