Raz Ben-Ami

Raz and Ohad Ben Ami's abduction from their Kibbutz Be’eri home on October 7, amidst a violent onslaught by Hamas, underscores the stark terror and abrupt disruptions faced by individuals in conflict zones. Both 57, the couple's capture is part of a broader narrative of brutality and terror that day, as Hamas terrorists engaged in killing, kidnapping, and committing atrocities against residents.

Their daughter Yulie, also present in Be’eri, survived the attack, maintaining communication with her father Ohad until the very moment of his abduction: "I was awakened at 6:20 in the morning by the alarm app on my phone. At about half-past the hour, we got a message saying that someone got into our kibbutz. Someone. A terrorist. From that moment, we had to lock the doors, turn off the lights and remain quiet."

"I started texting the other members of my family: I was in my house, my sister was in her house, my parents in their house, my aunt in another house and grandma in another house. Everyone was in their own place in the kibbutz. We wanted to know that everyone was fine, so we sent each other messages on WhatsApp."

"At 9:30, my mom sent me a message that the terrorists were trying to get into the house and they tried to break the door — that they were shooting into the safe place. She wrote that she’s scared and doesn’t know what to do. And I think like 10 or 15 minutes later, my mother and my father sent us a message that they [the attackers] are in the house and are breaking everything. At 10:06, my father sent us a message: “They are in the safe room. They caught us.”

Ohad's final WhatsApp message to his other daughter, Natalie, invoking the "Shma Yisrael," a central Jewish prayer, and his subsequent instructions regarding his will, poignantly underscore the gravity of the situation they faced.

Raz's release on November 29, as part of an extended ceasefire agreement, brought a partial relief to their family, yet the continued captivity of Ohad in Gaza leaves a lingering shadow of concern and uncertainty.