October 7 · Personal story
Ditza Heiman
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · November 28, 2023
Released alive on 28 November 2023 after 53 days in captivity.
01
Life before
Ditza Heiman was a founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz and stayed because, as her granddaughter recalled, she called it home. She lived by herself, keeping her own routines and hosting relatives. Her daughter described her as a widow who raised four children, worked as a social worker and founded an assistance unit at the Be’er Sheva Family Court. A CNN interview after her release described her cooking and cleaning independently and welcoming a family gathering of 25. She was a mother of four, stepmother of three, grandmother of 20 and great-grandmother of five. Her granddaughter Shani wrote that Ditza was both family and a neighbor’s aunt and friend. Her granddaughter remembered her years as a kindergarten teacher and her care for the people around her. On October 7 she also called neighbors as the kibbutz emergency network sought help.
02
Abduction
On October 7, 2023, Ditza was in the protected room of her home. Her family last spoke with her at about 10 a.m. Her granddaughter’s account and a contemporaneous Times of Israel report describe the growing uncertainty: at around 4 p.m., a daughter called Ditza’s phone and a person speaking Arabic answered. A neighbor later heard Ditza calling for help but could not reach her. Days later, the family saw footage of her being led from behind the house and taken into Gaza. The call that ended in an unfamiliar voice became the last direct contact before her return.
03
Captivity
During the first weeks, the family received only fragments about Ditza’s captivity. On November 29, 2023, her grandson-in-law told CNN that she believed she had spent a long period in an attic, apart from other captives. The family remembered her as someone who cooked, cleaned and hosted relatives independently before the abduction; isolation had taken her away from that familiar life. In testimony reported by Ynet in September 2026, her daughter Neta Heiman-Mina gave a more precise account: Ditza had spent 48 of her 53 days confined in an attic, in harsh conditions and with very little food. The 48 days describe this particular place of confinement, rather than her entire captivity.
04
Return
Ditza was released alive on November 28, 2023, after 53 days in captivity. She returned to Israel with the group of Israeli and Thai hostages named in that day’s reporting. Her family had spent more than seven weeks waiting for word after the last phone call. A reunion meant that the voice on the phone was no longer their only sign of her; her return reunited a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother with the large family that had gathered around her.
05
Aftermath
Ditza’s return allowed relatives to hear about experiences they had been unable to see while she was captive. In the first CNN interview after her release, her grandson-in-law spoke about the relief of having her back, alongside the losses suffered by the kibbutz. The family continued to bring her account into public discussion. In September 2026, her daughter Neta spoke in Geneva about her mother’s confinement and the deprivation she had endured. Ynet’s report identified the speaker as Ditza’s daughter and described her demand for accountability from those responsible for holding an elderly woman hostage.