October 7 · Personal story
Raz Ben Ami
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Her home in Kibbutz Be’eri, southern Israel
Current outcome
Released alive · November 29, 2023
Released during the November humanitarian pause after 54 days in captivity.
01
Before October 7
Raz Ben Ami lived in Kibbutz Be’eri with her husband Ohad and worked in art therapy with older people in the community. They had three daughters: Ella, Yuli and Natalie. The family celebrated the harvest holiday in Be’eri on the night before the attack. Afterwards Raz and Ohad returned home, while Ella and Yuli went to their own homes. Natalie stayed with her partner at Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
02
October 7
Raz and Ohad woke to sirens on October 7 and took cover in their safe room. They stayed in contact with their daughters as gunfire reached the kibbutz. Ohad was shot and taken from their home first. According to Ella’s account, Raz hid under a blanket in the safe room before attackers found her. They threatened her with an axe, struck her with sticks and forced her onto a motorcycle while she was still in her pyjamas. Ella learned that Raz was in Gaza from footage that appeared two weeks later.
03
In captivity
Raz later described hunger, thirst, pain, fear and sleepless nights in captivity. She did not know whether she would see her husband or daughters again, and said she was unsure she could have survived another week. Ella said her mother returned dehydrated and had lost six kilograms. Raz suffered from a disorder involving tumours in her back and spine, but did not receive enough of her medication. She told the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that she had not been allowed to wash. After returning, she shared few details with her daughters because hearing them was painful.
04
Return
Raz was released alive on November 29, 2023, after 54 days. Ella received the news that she was on the release list at three in the morning; Raz did not leave Gaza until shortly before midnight. Ella remembered her mother smiling when she saw her three daughters again: Raz had feared they would not be alive. Joy was mixed with anguish when she learned Ohad was still captive. During the weeks afterwards, she stayed in Tel Aviv with family, struggling to sleep and worrying about her husband.
05
After captivity
In an essay published on January 2, 2024, Raz described the warmth with which she and her daughters had been welcomed, alongside fear for those left in Gaza. She wrote that two weeks after her release she had told the prime minister about her own conditions and the last time she saw Ohad, wounded in the shoulder and struggling to breathe. She urged leaders to bring him and the other hostages home. Ohad was released alive on February 8, 2025, more than a year after Raz.