October 7 · Personal story
Yair Horn
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Released alive · February 15, 2025
Released alive on February 15, 2025, after 498 days in captivity.
01
Before October 7
Yair Horn was the oldest of three brothers who grew up in Argentina. He moved to Israel at 20; his brother Amos followed, and Eitan and their parents joined later. Yair settled in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he worked in education, maintenance and the kitchen, and ran the kibbutz pub. In October 2023, Eitan came to visit him at home.
02
Abduction
On October 7, the brothers heard sirens and received messages that armed attackers had entered Nir Oz. They sheltered in the safe room at Yair’s home. Yair tried to hold the door shut until the attackers began shooting through it. Fearing they would use grenades or stronger weapons, he decided to surrender. He was immediately taken to Gaza and did not know what had happened to Eitan.
03
Captivity
Horn spent 498 days in captivity. In his own interview, he described living with other hostages in a small underground room and noticing changes in food supplies through the size of their portions. Around the fiftieth day, captors brought Eitan to him; until then Yair had not known whether his brother was alive. For much of captivity, they were held with three other hostages. In early February, the group was told that two would be released; for four days, the captives wondered whether they could influence the choice. Their captors filmed an emotional goodbye before Yair was taken out. Yair recalled their long conversations about childhood, school, the youth movement and soccer, and their small jokes between siblings.
04
Return
Yair returned alive on February 15, 2025, after 498 days in captivity, under the hostage-release agreement. His mother had protested the decision to release one son while leaving the other behind. Eitan remained in Gaza. After returning, Yair stayed with family in Kfar Saba; he regained some of the weight lost in captivity but continued to face physical and psychological difficulties.
05
After return
In a July 2025 interview, Yair described putting his own recovery on hold to fight for Eitan’s release. He had made four trips to the United States, meeting political leaders and asking them to bring the remaining hostages home. He was unsure where he would live or whether he would return to Nir Oz; his focus was his brother. Eitan finally returned alive on October 13, 2025, eight months after Yair.