October 7 · Personal story
Agam Goldstein-Almog
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Her family home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel
Current outcome
Released alive · November 26, 2023
Released with her mother and two younger brothers after 51 days in captivity in Gaza.
01
Life before October 7
Agam was 17 and lived with her parents Chen and Nadav, older sister Yam and younger brothers Gal and Tal in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. In later interviews she remembered her belief before the attack that people were not bad, but had difficult lives. She also recalled the ordinary worries of adolescence: a delayed online order, the prospect of a pre-army program and military service. Those future steps had frightened her then. In her December 2024 interview she compared these earlier concerns with the fear and loss that followed the attack on her family.
02
October 7
Agam’s own January 2024 account begins in her family’s safe room on October 7. Attackers shot her father, Nadav, at close range and then killed her older sister Yam. The family stepped over Nadav’s dying body as they were forced outside. When Yam fainted, Agam tried to wake her; during the drive toward Gaza, she told her younger brothers, “Don’t look,” as attackers loaded bodies into the car. Chen, Agam, Gal, and Tal were taken in Chen’s car and reached Gaza around 12:20.
03
In captivity
Agam spent 51 days in Gaza with Chen and her brothers. She described being moved through houses, apartments, a mosque and tunnels. Underground she met young women who spoke about abuse and showed untreated wounds. In her essay she recalled blurred days and nights, thoughts of death and fear for the women who would remain behind. They asked her to tell their families they were alive and to keep fighting for their return. In a Channel 12 interview, Agam described airstrikes making her whole body shake and asking to be moved. She also tried to maintain a workout routine.
04
Return
On November 26, 2023, Agam was released with her mother and two younger brothers after 51 days in captivity, during the third stage of the hostage deal. She was still 17. In her interview she recalled fear during the handover, when crowds surrounded the Red Cross vehicles and the staff had no weapons to defend them. She returned to Israel with Chen, Gal and Tal, but her father and older sister were not there to meet her. In her later essay she described being forever changed by their deaths and by captivity.
05
After return
In her January 16, 2024 essay, Agam brought the messages of women she had met underground to public attention and asked for their return. In June she finished high school, describing joy at the celebration and sorrow that Nadav and Yam could not be there. By December, her own interview and diary excerpts described continuing nightmares and fear while walking in the street. Seeing the four surviving family members together in their living room could bring her back to the room in Gaza. She continued attending rallies and speaking about the captives alongside the grief for her father and sister.