October 7 · Personal story
Yosef-Haim Ohana
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nova music festival near Re’im
Current outcome
Released alive · October 13, 2025
Released alive on October 13, 2025 after 738 days in captivity.
01
Before October 7
Ohana grew up in Kiryat Malachi and later lived with his grandmother in Ramla, traveling often to Tel Aviv for work as a bartender. His family described his love of jazz and photography. He had planned a trip to the United States for pilot training, and friends went to Nova to celebrate that next step with him.
02
October 7
Ohana and his friends arrived at Nova at about 2 a.m. on October 7, 2023. When the attack began, he used his Givati medic training to help wounded partygoers and carry them to paramedics. His group later tried to reach the main road but came under fire and scattered. In his October 2025 interview, he described hiding with others beneath a bush. Armed attackers discovered them and opened fire at close range. Ohana said he was the only person there who survived; the attackers pulled him out and took him captive.
03
Captivity
In his October 28, 2025 interview, Ohana described being moved from houses into tunnels shortly after the June 2024 rescue operation nearby. He spoke about moldy food, hunger and the uncertainty of not knowing when the next meal would arrive. Captors signaled for prisoners to collect food by flashing lights. During his last two months he was held alone and spoke Arabic, which a captor had taught him. He said music and his Jewish faith helped him endure: he sang the Hebrew Pinocchio theme and a song by Daniela Spector to himself. His father later recounted his account of seven men confined in an airless space after the release agreement was signed. At a Chicago community gathering reported in February 2026, Ohana described beatings and captors threatening to make the hostages choose who would live and who would die.
04
Return
Ohana returned alive on October 13, 2025, after 738 days in captivity. His first post-release interview took place two weeks later. He described release as a gradual process and said that after two years of suppressing emotion, he felt happy mentally before he could feel it emotionally.
05
Aftermath
In his first interview after returning, Ohana said he still had to learn how to be free and make his own choices. He described singing during captivity and the love he felt when reunited with friends and family. In February 2026, a report described him speaking at Chabad Lincoln Park in Chicago alongside his friend Daniel Sharabi. He shared his own experiences, thanked people who had prayed for him and sang Hebrew songs with Sharabi for the audience.