October 7 · Personal story
Karina Engel-Bert
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · November 27, 2023
Released with her family after 52 days in captivity.
01
Before October 7
Karina Engel-Bert grew up in Córdoba, Argentina, and moved with her parents and three siblings to Israel in 1989, when she was 17 and had just finished secondary school. She and Ronen joined Kibbutz Nir Oz in August 2010 and raised Mika and Yuval there; their older son Tom lived in a separate home in the kibbutz. Karina worked in accounting for a bank serving 53 kibbutzim. Before October 7, she had recovered from cancer after two difficult years. Her sister Paula recalled her hair growing back and the family’s renewed optimism.
02
Abduction
On October 7, Karina and her daughters entered the safe room while Ronen stayed outside to defend them. Karina held the door and tried to resist the attackers with a knife, but they overpowered her. She later described being dragged outside and taken to Gaza on a motorcycle. About half an hour later, the attackers found Mika and Yuval in the safe room and abducted them too. Tom was away with his army unit that day.
03
Captivity
Karina was first held with two other women in a basement apartment in Khan Younis. Her glasses and shoes had been taken, and without her glasses she needed the women’s help to see what was in front of her. Captors told her that her daughters were in Tel Aviv. She kept count of the days with little balls of toilet paper in a cup, counting at the morning prayers around four o’clock. In her April 2025 interview, she said she was taken to a hospital on October 29 and reunited with her injured daughters the following day. They spent the rest of captivity in a small room with other hostages. She described being filmed repeatedly and instructed what to say for the camera.
04
Return
Karina was released with Mika and Yuval on November 27, 2023, after 52 days. She recalled the staged handover to the Red Cross, then reaching Israeli doctors and soldiers at Kerem Shalom. Mika borrowed a soldier’s phone to call Tom. They were taken by helicopter to Ichilov Hospital, where they reunited with him and the family. Doctors treated the sisters’ injuries; Yuval needed urgent surgery on her foot the next day.
05
Afterward
After about two months in hospital with her daughters, Karina moved with the Nir Oz community to Karmei Gat. She returned to accounting work in February 2024, describing that step as a way back to ordinary life. In her April 2025 interview, she said the hospital team remained part of their ongoing recovery. The family had received official notice on December 1, 2023, that Ronen was killed on October 7 and his body was held in Gaza. His remains were returned on October 18, 2025, and identified the following day.