October 7 · Personal story
Adi Shoham
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Be’eri
Current outcome
Released alive · November 25, 2023
Released alive with her children on 25 November 2023 after 50 days in captivity.
01
Life before
Adi Shoham lived in Maale Tzvia with her husband Tal and their children, Naveh and Yahel. She worked as a psychologist specializing in trauma therapy. For Simchat Torah weekend, the family travelled to Be’eri to visit Adi’s parents, Shoshan and Avshalom Haran; Adi had grown up in the kibbutz. Their wider family was there too, including Adi’s aunt Sharon Avigdori and cousin Noam. The trip was a holiday visit among parents, children, siblings and cousins. After the attack, the family learned that some relatives had been killed, while Adi, Tal and the children had been taken into Gaza.
02
Abduction
On October 7, Hamas gunmen set fire to the Haran home and the relatives were forced from the safe room. Tal’s later account describes the family being pulled outside and put in vehicles. Adi recalled being led along the road with her children after they were separated from the other adults. She saw three-year-old Yahel held about 20 metres ahead by an attacker and ran to her. The captor pulled the child back, and Adi pulled again, shouting until he released her. Then she ran to Naveh, who was being led by another man. She pulled him close too. Adi described moving before she could think through danger: she had seen her children and could not leave them.
03
Captivity
Adi and the children were kept with female relatives, while Tal was separated from them. In her later interview, Adi said captors made the hostages rehearse statements for videos, but she did not want to repeat them. The family’s account from 2023 described the children whispering, crying and laughing quietly while their captors ordered them to speak in whispers. The group was moved through Gaza during the first weeks of captivity. Adi had no news of Tal after their separation. For her, the children’s presence was the immediate task: staying close enough to keep them together while the captors controlled where they went.
04
Return
Adi and her children were released alive on November 25, 2023, after 50 days. They arrived in Israel with Adi’s mother and other relatives. The first reunion photos showed Adi with Yahel; Tal remained in Gaza. His father described the children’s silence about what they had endured and said they did not ask for their father. Adi’s release and Tal’s continued captivity created two different family timelines: the children were home, while their father was still missing from their daily life.
05
Aftermath
Adi waited nearly two years before giving a broadcast interview. She said she had received calls and WhatsApp messages threatening Tal’s life if she spoke publicly, and she feared that a careless word might endanger him. When Ynet interviewed her after his release, she said she was ready to take ownership of her story. She also spoke about the rescue of hostages in June 2024: seeing the family who had held her and videos of the home made her fear for those still inside. Her first public telling centered on the children, the separation from Tal and the cost of remaining silent.