October 7 · Personal story
Sharon Aloni-Conio
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Her family home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Current outcome
Released alive · November 27, 2023
Released alive in Israel on November 27, 2023, after 52 days in captivity.
01
A home in Nir Oz
Sharon Aloni-Conio lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz with her husband David and their twin daughters, Emma and Yuli. Her sister Danielle and niece Emilia were visiting on October 7. They were together in the same home when the attack reached Nir Oz.
02
Smoke drove the family out
Sharon told the Associated Press that David held the safe-room door shut for hours. When attackers set the house on fire, he escaped through a window with Yuli. Sharon, Danielle and the other children were still inside as smoke thickened. Sharon described losing consciousness before getting out. Armed men took Sharon, David and Yuli to Gaza on a tractor. Emma was separated from them. Danielle and Emilia were taken in another vehicle, with Emma initially alongside them. Sharon and David entered captivity with one daughter and without knowing where the other was.
03
Separated, then reunited with the girls
Sharon, David and Yuli spent their first ten days in a home in Gaza. After a nearby bombing damaged it, captors moved them by ambulance. David was covered with a white sheet; Sharon wore clothing meant to conceal her identity. They were taken to a hospital that Sharon identified as Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Emma was brought back to them during their time there. The family shared a small room with other hostages for weeks. Sharon described irregular food, asking permission to use the toilet, and giving the girls food from the adults’ portions. In their final week there, another hostage sewed long pajama trousers for the twins from spare clothes. Near the end of Sharon’s captivity, David was separated from her and the girls. The family was given time to embrace before he was taken away. Sharon and the twins were released three days later; David remained in Gaza.
04
Three returned on November 27
Sharon and her three-year-old daughters were released on November 27, 2023, after 52 days. Her sister Danielle and niece Emilia had returned three days earlier. Sharon came home with both twins after their separation from Emma during the abduction, but without David. On January 15, 2024, she visited the ruins of their Nir Oz home with an AP journalist. Their cat, Elvis, had survived and came to her. At that time she and the girls were staying with her parents in Yavne. She spoke about trying to resume daily life while waiting for her husband.
05
The family’s separation ended in 2025
David and his brother Ariel returned to Israel on October 13, 2025. After almost two years apart, Sharon and David were reunited with their daughters. In an interview on October 26, Danielle described embracing the brothers in hospital. She also described David back at home in Yavne, reading stories to Emma and Yuli and putting them to bed. The family’s account marked his return through those ordinary moments of parenting, while acknowledging that recovery would take time.