October 7 · Personal story
Moran Yanai
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
The Nova music festival site near Re’im
Current outcome
Released alive · November 29, 2023
Moran was released alive on November 29, 2023, after 54 days in captivity.
01
Jewelry, animals and a first exhibition
Moran Stella Yanai designed handmade jewelry, combining silver, pearls and materials inspired by cultures around the world. In October 2023, she was preparing to show her work at a large exhibition for the first time. Her sister Lea and brother-in-law Dan Mor described her as deeply kind and protective of animals, from pets to farm and wild animals. Yanai had set up a table at the Nova music festival to sell her designs; she saw the event as a chance to begin building a larger audience for her work.
02
Captured at Nova
Moran was at the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, with her jewelry. When the attack began, she fled. Her account, published after release, says she was caught twice and escaped before being forcibly taken to Gaza on a third encounter. Her family learned she had disappeared and later recognized her in a video circulating online. Her niece, then 12, spotted the footage of Yanai asking for her life and alerted the family.
03
Fifty-four days in captivity
Moran spent 54 days in Gaza and was moved between several guarded homes. She was held at times with other hostages, including Noa Argamani and Itay Svirsky. In her testimony she described strict control over ordinary movements and a serious intestinal illness that left her fearing she might die. She said she was not permitted to limp despite an injury. On the day she was released, her captors returned the jewelry she had been wearing when taken.
04
Released after 54 days
Moran was released alive on November 29, 2023, after 54 days in captivity. She reunited with the family who had spent weeks trying to learn whether she was alive. Her captors had returned the jewelry she was wearing when she was taken. In an interview published on October 7, 2024, she spoke with CBS correspondent Elizabeth Palmer about her abduction and captivity. Her first-person testimony and the jewelry she later exhibited became ways to tell what she had lived through.
05
Turning testimony into art
After her release, Moran spoke publicly about the hostages still held in Gaza and traveled to share her account. In 2025 she recreated her Nova jewelry table for an exhibition about the attack, using pieces and materials recovered from her original stand. She has described the work as part of understanding what direction to take next. The display joined her professional craft with a record of the night her first festival stall became the site of her abduction.