October 7 · Personal story
Sagui Dekel-Chen
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · February 15, 2025
Released alive from captivity and reunited with Avital and their daughters, including the daughter born while he was held.
01
Life before
Sagui and Avital met at a kibbutz wedding when he was sixteen and she was fourteen. They stayed together, married ten years later and built their family around Nir Oz. After living in Gedera while studying, they returned when their first daughter, Bar, was born, choosing the community where they wanted to raise their children. Two daughters, Bar and Gali, grew up there; a third was on the way in 2023. Sagui loved working on buses in the kibbutz garage. The community account places him there on October 7, beside the machinery he cared for, while his family sheltered at home. Their life joined work, parenthood and kibbutz routines: family nearby, familiar paths and a yard with a mango tree. These details come from the family’s own account, which presents Nir Oz as the place they chose to make a home.
02
Abduction
On October 7, 2023, Avital and the two girls were in their safe room; Avital was seven months pregnant. Sagui was at the garage. It took him hours to reach home. When he arrived, he told them that no help had reached the kibbutz and that attackers were approaching. With little time to decide, he went back out to try to protect his family while Avital stayed with the girls. Attackers entered shortly afterward. The family heard gunfire, shouts and grenades while Avital remained in the dark safe room with Bar and Gali. Sagui was shot and abducted to Gaza. Avital and the girls were rescued after about ten hours. She searched for him without knowing that he had been taken. The account holds both sides of that morning together: his attempt to defend his family and their long, frightened wait for rescue.
03
Captivity
Sagui entered captivity wounded. His father later recounted that he was taken to a hospital in Khan Younis, where his injuries were initially treated. For months the family had no confirmed proof of life. The father said confirmation came only when Sagui stepped from a vehicle at the handover point. During that time, Avital gave birth to their third daughter, Shachar Mazal, while Sagui remained unaware of the expanded family waiting for him. The family’s account says Sagui learned the day before his return that his wife and daughters were safe and that he had become a father again.
04
Return
Sagui was released alive on February 15, 2025, after 498 days in captivity. The family’s earlier relief at hearing he was alive became a face-to-face reunion. He met Shachar Mazal for the first time, and accounts describe the new father and daughter staying close from that first meeting. His wife and older daughters were there too, bringing the two parts of the family’s life — before and during captivity — into the same room. The return did not erase the separation. Sagui came back with injuries from October 7 and began receiving medical treatment in Israel. The community described the family’s next stage as rehabilitation together: his physical recovery and the girls’ adjustment to having their father home.
05
Aftermath
After Sagui’s return, the family moved to Kiryat Gat and looked for a new home. The Nir Oz account describes a family balancing individual recovery with life together: Bar reminded him of a promise to build a rooftop Jacuzzi, and he finally kept it. Gali, who had been frightened when he first returned, began to play with him and ask him to bring home the white chocolate she loved. Shachar Mazal stayed close to the father she had just met. Sagui returned to work and took on additional projects, while the family imagined how to live beyond the disruption of October 7.