October 7 · Personal story
Liat Atzili
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · November 29, 2023
Liat was released after 54 days in captivity on November 29, 2023.
01
A life built together
Liat moved to Kibbutz Nir Oz during her army service and made a life there with Aviv, who had grown up in the kibbutz. After Liat completed her army service, they spent several years traveling and returned around 2000. Together they raised three children: Ofri, Neta and Aya. Their household joined her years in Nir Oz to Aviv’s childhood home. Liat worked as a history teacher and Holocaust educator, taking that work into the classroom and into conversations about the past.
02
The morning Nir Oz was attacked
On October 7, 2023, sirens and gunfire sounded in Nir Oz. Aviv left home with his weapon to join the kibbutz emergency team; Liat remained alone in the safe room. Armed men entered the house, and one room was set on fire. Later that morning, she was taken from the house and driven to Khan Yunis. Aviv was killed fighting attackers, and his body was taken to Gaza. Their home was where their paths separated: he died defending Nir Oz, while she was taken away alive.
03
Holding on to her students
Liat was held in Gaza for 54 days. During captivity, she shared an apartment with another woman from Nir Oz. They had not known each other before the attack, but shared food, tears and the comfort of holding hands at night. Liat kept thinking about her students at Nofei HaBesor and the wish to return to class. “Those thoughts gave me strength to go back to teaching,” she told them after her release. She also worried about her daughter Aya, who was away at a year of community service in Kibbutz Lotan. The students and her children remained the threads she reached for while she waited.
04
Homecoming and devastating news
Liat was released on November 29, 2023, after 54 days. Her three children met her at the hospital. She had not known what had happened in Nir Oz or whether her family was safe. Just before release, a companion told her that the children were waiting and that Aviv was “wounded and kidnapped.” The next day, her family told her that he had been killed in the attack and his body remained in Gaza. She later recalled that she understood what the message would be before the words came. Her return held reunion and bereavement together.
05
Teaching again
After her return, Liat met her Nofei HaBesor students at the temporary school in the Dead Sea hotels. She called their reunion the happiest event she had attended in months. In August 2024, she said going back to work and finishing the school year with her students had a “huge healing effect,” while connecting with students and parents still took great effort. She later returned to teaching at Nofei HaBesor and guiding at Yad Vashem.