October 7 · Personal story
Yagil Yaakov
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel
Current outcome
Released alive · November 27, 2023
Released alive on November 27, 2023, after 52 days in captivity.
01
Friends, humor and music
Yagil grew up in Nir Oz with Renana, Or and Sheer. He liked being with friends, joking with classmates, fashion and posting to TikTok; he listened to Omer Adam and Eden Hason. He and Or supported Maccabi Tel Aviv.
02
Taken from home
On October 7, 2023, twelve-year-old Yagil and his brother Or were alone at home in Nir Oz. They entered the protected room and called their family as attackers approached. When the room was breached, an attacker threatened Yagil with a knife and ordered him to leave. Renana, still on the telephone, heard him plead, “Don’t take me, I’m too young.” He was taken first, without a chance to say goodbye to Or. Seeing armed attackers enter the room where his brother remained, Yagil feared Or had been killed.
03
Alone, then reunion
Yagil was held alone, separated from his family and other Israeli hostages for almost all of his captivity. In a February 2026 interview, he recalled hunger, beatings, threats and being moved through four places. He said the loneliness was the hardest part: there was nobody with whom he could share what was happening. Wanting to return to Nir Oz and imagining seeing his mother again helped him endure. The day before his release, he met Merav in a Gaza hospital and felt, for the first time, as though he was home. He saw Or only when they were released, astonished that his brother was alive.
04
Return on November 27
Yagil and Or returned alive on November 27, 2023, after 52 days, and reunited with Renana and Sheer.
05
Separate family outcomes
Merav was released a day later, on November 28. In February 2024 the family learned that Yair had been murdered on October 7. In September 2024, Yagil returned to his school in the Eshkol Regional Council as a ninth-grade student, wishing for a happier, calmer year. His father’s remains were recovered in June 2025, and Yair was buried in Nir Oz on June 20. In a February 2026 interview, Yagil described recovery as uneven and spoke about his mother’s support, his deeper friendship with Or and the reassurance he found in Sheer. He said he dreamed of returning to Nir Oz and building a family of his own.