October 7 · Personal story
Noam Avigdori
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Be’eri, during a visit to family
Current outcome
Released alive · November 25, 2023
Released with her mother Sharon and returned to Israel after fifty days in captivity.
01
Friends and humor
Before the October visit, Noam was twelve and lived with her family in Hod Hasharon. Her father, Hen, described her as social enough to have so many friends that he asked her to make a chart so he could keep track. He also called her kind, a top student who liked school and learning, and “hilarious” with a sarcastic sense of humor.
02
A family visit to Be’eri
On October 7, 2023, Noam and her mother, Sharon, were visiting Sharon’s relatives in Kibbutz Be’eri for the holiday. Noam’s father Hen and her older brother Omer were at home in Hod Hasharon. When the attack began, Noam and Sharon entered a safe room with relatives; the family’s last contact came that morning. Hen later said that his brother-in-law Avshalom told him they were afraid and then, around 11 a.m., that they were in “big trouble.” Contact stopped. Noam and Sharon were first listed as missing; Hen learned later that they had been taken to Gaza.
03
Fifty days held with family
Noam and Sharon were held in Gaza for fifty days. Hen later described six members of the extended family sharing one room, and said that being together mattered to them. Noam was the oldest child among the younger cousins held with her. Her father called her “the big cousin”; a later report described her as taking an older-sister role with those younger relatives. While Noam and Sharon were in Gaza, Hen and Omer remained in Israel, and the family waited through two weeks in which Hen did not know whether his wife and daughter were dead or captive. Sharon’s brother Avshalom had been killed on October 7; the family learned of his death ten days later.
04
Back with her family
Noam and Sharon were released on November 25, 2023, after fifty days, and returned to Israel together. Their relatives learned during the long wait that the release was expected, then watched for confirmation: Hen said he could not believe it fully until he saw them enter the vehicle carrying them from Gaza. Sharon and Noam reached Sheba Medical Center at about 4 a.m. on November 26. Hen, Omer, and other relatives met them there. In a later interview, Hen called the reunion the happiest moment of his life and compared holding Noam again to becoming a parent for a second time.
05
School, friends, and family
In December 2023, Hen said that Noam was seeing friends and trading jokes with him. In March 2024, he reported that Noam was back at school and Sharon was working again. In a May interview, he recalled asking Noam to collect cups around the house the day after she returned home. She protested that she had just returned from captivity; after their joking exchange, she went to collect them. Hen continued campaigning for the hostages who remained in Gaza, alongside rebuilding everyday life with his family.