October 7 · Personal story
Aviv Katz Asher
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Her grandmother’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz; Aviv lived with her family in Ganot Hadar.
Current outcome
Released alive · November 24, 2023
Released alive in Israel with Doron and Raz on November 24, 2023, after 49 days in captivity.
01
A visit with her mother and sister
Aviv lived with her parents and sister Raz in Ganot Hadar. The family visited her maternal grandmother Efrat Katz and Gadi Moses in Nir Oz over the holiday weekend. KAN lists Aviv as two and a half.
02
The home was attacked
Aviv was taken from her grandmother’s home with Doron, Raz and Efrat Katz. The family was driven to Gaza on a tractor. Doron said that she and Aviv were lightly wounded during the journey and that Efrat was killed. In a later interview, Doron recalled seeing a wound in Aviv’s leg. When Doron’s own wounds were stitched in Gaza without anesthesia, she said both girls stayed close to her. They were not separated from their mother during her treatment.
03
Her mother’s account of captivity
Aviv and Raz remained with Doron for their 49 days in captivity. During the first 16 days in a family apartment, the girls drew with paper and coloring pencils. Guards told them to keep quiet. Doron tried to maintain small activities and reassure them that they would return home. The three were later taken to a hospital and held in a locked room with other captives. Doron described sealed windows, no mattresses and needing permission to use the toilet. She gave the girls some of her own food when portions were small. They drew foods they missed and played with cards they made. In her account first published in December 2024, Doron said she sometimes let the children sleep later because little food was available earlier in the day. Her care for Aviv and Raz shaped the routine she tried to create in captivity.
04
Returned after 49 days
Aviv returned to Israel with Doron and Raz on November 24, 2023, after 49 days. At Schneider Children’s Medical Center the girls reunited with their father, Yoni. Hospital photographs and video published the following day showed the family together again. In Doron’s later account, keeping both children beside her had been central to surviving captivity. Their release brought all three back to Yoni, who had stayed in Israel while they were visiting Nir Oz.
05
Life after return, as reported by her mother
In her mother’s interview first published in December 2024, Aviv was four. Doron described the girls back in kindergarten, spending time with friends and attending activities and birthday celebrations. She said they still sometimes spoke about captivity and used words they had learned in Arabic. The sisters were then looking forward to a baby sister. When the interview was republished in May 2025, an update reported that Doron had given birth to a third daughter. Aviv’s life after returning included those family changes as well as the routines her mother described restoring.