October 7 · Personal story
Alon Ohel
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nova music festival near Re’im
Current outcome
Released alive · October 13, 2025
Released alive on October 13, 2025, after 738 days in captivity under the negotiated agreement.
01
Life before October 7
Alon Ohel grew up with music at the center of his life. A pianist from northern Israel, he travelled south with friends to the Nova music festival. The Hebrew KAN gallery identifies his community as Lavon. He also held German and Serbian citizenship. During the long wait for his return, his family placed pianos across Israel and at sites around the world, inviting people to remember the young musician through the instrument he loved.
02
Abduction
On October 7, 2023, the attack reached the Nova festival grounds. Alon fled with other people to a roadside bomb shelter near Re’im. People had sought cover there as gunfire and attacks reached the roads. Four people were abducted from the shelter and seven survived. Alon was taken into Gaza, away from the festival and the friends with whom he had arrived. The shelter’s timeline places the abductions around 08:13, after people reached it at about 06:40.
03
Captivity
In an October 28, 2025 interview with Ynet, Alon’s father Kobi described what his son had told the family after returning. Hunger had left him and the other captives unable to stand or walk for months. Alon tried to keep his mind sharp, and pictures of demonstrators holding signs with his face gave him strength. Eli Sharabi, who had spent more than a year with him in captivity, said he regarded Alon as an adopted son. Kobi said Eli had helped prepare Alon for the isolation that followed the release of fellow captives. Alon spent seven months alone, his father said. Earlier companions recalled that even underground, Alon played music in his head, hearing the notes. Kobi also described injuries to Alon’s head and eye and a long rehabilitation ahead.
04
Return
Alon returned alive on October 13, 2025, after 738 days in captivity under the negotiated agreement that brought the living hostages home. He arrived at Beilinson hospital and reunited with his family in Israel. His return ended the separation that began when he was taken from the roadside shelter on October 7, 2023.
05
After the return
In the October 28, 2025 Ynet interview, Kobi said Alon had come home to Misgav four days earlier after leaving Beilinson Hospital. Residents had greeted him with Israeli flags. His father described their first embrace at Re’im and said Alon was getting stronger every day. Asked when he would return to the piano, Alon replied, “Slowly, we’re working on it.” Kobi said his son had begun reconnecting with artists and musicians and would decide for himself what came next. He also said Alon wanted to become a symbol of hope and help people facing hunger. The family was raising funds for his rehabilitation and hoped to organize a performance through which Alon could reconnect with people through music.