October 7 · Personal story
Ohad Ben Ami
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Home in Kibbutz Be’eri
Current outcome
Released alive · February 8, 2025
Released alive after 491 days in captivity
01
Before October 7
Ohad Ben Ami lived in Kibbutz Be’eri with his wife, Raz. They had three daughters: Ella, Yuli and Natalie. He worked in accounting at the kibbutz. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, quoted by AP, described his love of nature and his importance to the family. On the evening before October 7, the family celebrated the harvest holiday in Be’eri. Ohad and Raz went home afterwards. Ella and Yuli returned to their own homes in the kibbutz, while Natalie stayed with her partner in nearby Nahal Oz.
02
October 7
The following morning, the parents and daughters exchanged messages as sirens and gunfire spread through Be’eri. Ella urged her parents to lock themselves in the safe room and repeatedly tried to summon help. At 9:36 a.m., Ohad sent Ella instructions about a file containing his will. Shortly after 10 a.m., he told her that the attackers had entered the safe room and captured them. Contact then stopped. A photograph of Ohad being taken through Gaza reached his daughters, and Ella appealed for help on television. Raz had hidden beneath a blanket but was also discovered and abducted. The daughters survived the attack; they were not taken to Gaza with their parents.
03
In captivity
In his August 2025 interview with N12, Ohad said he and Raz were initially held separately. Five days later they were brought together, and he cried when he saw her. Raz was released on November 29, 2023; Ohad remained captive. He described being taken underground afterwards. As more captives arrived, six men shared space and food previously allotted to three. They dug into the sand to make sleeping room. Drawing on his accounting experience, he organised discussions and ways to divide meals fairly. He also described captors threatening to kill three men and shoot three others in the knees, forcing them to plead for their lives before ending the threat.
04
Return
Ohad was released alive on February 8, 2025, after 491 days in captivity, alongside Eli Sharabi and Or Levy. His return came more than a year after Raz’s release. KAN’s family account documents his reunion with Raz and their daughters. The photographs and first conversations brought together a family whose parents had been taken from Be’eri on the same morning but returned in different hostage deals.
05
After captivity
The daughters had moved between temporary homes after the attack, eventually living in Tel Aviv close to the campaign for their parents’ return. Raz joined them after her release while they continued working to bring Ohad home. Six months after his return, Ohad spoke publicly about life in captivity. His August 2025 account combined memories of reunion with Raz, hunger, collective decisions and fear for the men with whom he had been held.