October 7 · Personal story
Eitan Mor
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
Eitan Mor worked as an unarmed security guard at the Nova music festival. His friend Elyakim Libman was also working there. When the attack began, they helped festivalgoers who had been injured. Mor’s parents later helped establish the Tikva Forum, a group of hostage families; his father Tzvika became its chairman. In his own account after release, Eitan returned to the decisions he had made while working at the festival and to the friends he had tried to help.
02
Abduction
In his interview with Makor Rishon, reported by Ynet on December 12, 2025, Mor described helping people at Nova with Rom Braslavski. They carried Shira Ayalon into a small recess with help from others. Mor and Braslavski then went back to search for Libman, who was killed that day. Three gunmen fired toward them as they ran. They escaped that group, but were later caught by civilians. Mor said he briefly broke free before eight people caught him, beat him with weapons and tools, and held a knife against him. He recalled being offered a choice between dying there and being taken to Gaza. He answered Gaza, hoping to survive. During the drive he was beaten again.
03
Captivity
Mor described captivity as a changing sequence of places and long stretches of waiting. In an interview he recalled a captor promising release within two weeks, a promise that did not come true. His first days were in an abandoned warehouse, where his hands were tied behind him for three days and he could not sleep or lie down. A guard later tied one hand through a hole in the wall so he could rest. Mor said another guard stole his shoes; the replacement pair was several sizes too big, and he kept falling in them. He learned Arabic, read books, and spoke fluently. Hunger stayed with him, and he thought of his grandmother’s meatballs.
04
Return
Eitan Mor returned alive on October 13, 2025, after 738 days in captivity under the negotiated agreement. Associated Press photographs show him arriving at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva that day. His return ended the separation that had begun at Nova, where he had gone back to search for his friend before being abducted.
05
After the return
In the December 12, 2025 account, Mor spoke about the uncertainty of captivity and how accepting that he might die had helped him live in the moment. His recollections returned to Libman and Braslavski and to the people they tried to help at Nova. He also discussed his father Tzvika, who had been criticized during the war for his position on hostage negotiations. Mor said he admired his father and wanted to thank him for remaining strong for the family and for him. By speaking in his own words, Mor described both the decisions he made on October 7 and the daily conditions he endured during the two years that followed.