Latest news with #Almog
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘That people are still there haunts me in the night': Former Hamas hostage says ordeal won't truly end until everyone is home
The sight of Or Levy emerging in February from Hamas captivity shocked the world. The 34-year-old's pale, emaciated frame stood as a testament to the brutal conditions he endured during the 491 days he was held hostage – almost all of which he spent underground, shackled and hungry. 'It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days … no human should live like that,' Levy said in an interview with CNN this week. 'And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I've been through – and it's scary.' Levy has now been home for five months. That time, he says, has been a rollercoaster of emotions, beginning the day he was released, which he describes as both the best and hardest of his life. He was reunited with his son, Almog, who was just two years old when his father was kidnapped. But he also learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed in the attacks of October 7, 2023 – and had to begin the process of grieving her. It was the first question Levy asked the Israeli military representative who greeted him as he stepped out of captivity. 'I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100% certain, and that I want to know,' Levy said. 'And then she told me.' For 491 days, Levy suspected that his wife may have been killed in Hamas' attack on the bomb shelter from which he was kidnapped, but still held out hope that she may have survived. Most of all, he said he wasn't prepared to know the truth and did not ask his captors whether she had survived. Instead, Levy said he stayed alive by focusing on his son – and a mantra that he learned from Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who would be executed months later by Hamas. Levy and Goldberg-Polin were taken hostage from the same bomb shelter near the Nova music festival. Seven weeks later, they were reunited in Hamas's tunnels and spent three days in captivity together. 'I remember Hersh telling me this sentence … 'He who has a 'why' can bear any 'how','' Levy recalled, a quote often attributed to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl referenced in a book about surviving the Holocaust. Almog was Levy's 'why.' On difficult days, when Levy said he thought about dying, he would touch his left arm and think about the mantra – and his son. One of those days was his son's birthday last year. With tears in his eyes, Levy recalled spending most of the day crying, quietly singing 'Happy Birthday' to his son, telling the other hostages about him and promising that he would do whatever it took to spend Almog's next birthday together. Levy was able to keep that promise two weeks ago, celebrating Almog's fourth birthday at their home in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Levy also got the mantra that helped him survive captivity tattooed on his arm – on the same spot he envisioned it while in captivity. Or's reunion with his son was nerve-wracking and emotional. He feared that his son might not recognize him. But the moment they embraced all those fears washed away. 'I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice … crazy,' Levy said. Levy has now dedicated himself to being Almog's father, full-time. Increasingly, that has meant answering his son's questions about the 'far place' where he has told his son he was being held and about his mother. 'The story that we told – that he knows – is that a big bomb happened and that unfortunately, mom is dead and I was taken to a far place, and people were trying to get me home,' Levy said. 'So he asks – he asks about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it? And he asked me about my wounds. He asked me again, why didn't I take him with me to this far place?' Levy said he tells his son that his mom didn't want to leave him, that she loved him from the bottom of her heart. And he tells him stories about her and shows him pictures of her, every day. As difficult as it is for Levy, who is still grieving his wife's death, he says he has promised himself that they won't stop speaking about her. 'Even when it's hard,' Levy said, 'It's harder for him (to not remember his mother).' Despite his gratitude for every day he gets with his son, Levy's ordeal won't truly be over until all the hostages are home. 'The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night,' Levy said. Watching the stop-and-start progress of ceasefire negotiations has been 'very difficult,' he said – especially knowing that Hamas tends to treat the hostages worse at the times when those negotiations stall or backslide. He recalled Hamas tightening the shackles around his legs in moments when ceasefire talks sputtered. 'Very easily, I could have been still there,' he added. He could have been in Alon Ohel's place – the 24-year-old hostage with dreams of studying music, with whom Levy spent most of his captivity and who remains in Gaza. 'I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home,' Levy said. 'I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finish everything. Finish everything.'
CNN
17-07-2025
- CNN
‘That people are still there haunts me in the night': Former Hamas hostage says ordeal won't truly end until everyone is home
The sight of Or Levy emerging in February from Hamas captivity shocked the world. The 34-year-old's pale, emaciated frame stood as a testament to the brutal conditions he endured during the 491 days he was held hostage – almost all of which he spent underground, shackled and hungry. 'It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days … no human should live like that,' Levy said in an interview with CNN this week. 'And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I've been through – and it's scary.' Levy has now been home for five months. That time, he says, has been a rollercoaster of emotions, beginning the day he was released, which he describes as both the best and hardest of his life. He was reunited with his son, Almog, who was just two years old when his father was kidnapped. But he also learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed in the attacks of October 7, 2023 – and had to begin the process of grieving her. It was the first question Levy asked the Israeli military representative who greeted him as he stepped out of captivity. 'I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100% certain, and that I want to know,' Levy said. 'And then she told me.' For 491 days, Levy suspected that his wife may have been killed in Hamas' attack on the bomb shelter from which he was kidnapped, but still held out hope that she may have survived. Most of all, he said he wasn't prepared to know the truth and did not ask his captors whether she had survived. Instead, Levy said he stayed alive by focusing on his son – and a mantra that he learned from Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who would be executed months later by Hamas. Levy and Goldberg-Polin were taken hostage from the same bomb shelter near the Nova music festival. Seven weeks later, they were reunited in Hamas's tunnels and spent three days in captivity together. 'I remember Hersh telling me this sentence … 'He who has a 'why' can bear any 'how','' Levy recalled, a quote often attributed to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl referenced in a book about surviving the Holocaust. Almog was Levy's 'why.' On difficult days, when Levy said he thought about dying, he would touch his left arm and think about the mantra – and his son. One of those days was his son's birthday last year. With tears in his eyes, Levy recalled spending most of the day crying, quietly singing 'Happy Birthday' to his son, telling the other hostages about him and promising that he would do whatever it took to spend Almog's next birthday together. Levy was able to keep that promise two weeks ago, celebrating Almog's fourth birthday at their home in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Levy also got the mantra that helped him survive captivity tattooed on his arm – on the same spot he envisioned it while in captivity. Or's reunion with his son was nerve-wracking and emotional. He feared that his son might not recognize him. But the moment they embraced all those fears washed away. 'I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice … crazy,' Levy said. Levy has now dedicated himself to being Almog's father, full-time. Increasingly, that has meant answering his son's questions about the 'far place' where he has told his son he was being held and about his mother. 'The story that we told – that he knows – is that a big bomb happened and that unfortunately, mom is dead and I was taken to a far place, and people were trying to get me home,' Levy said. 'So he asks – he asks about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it? And he asked me about my wounds. He asked me again, why didn't I take him with me to this far place?' Levy said he tells his son that his mom didn't want to leave him, that she loved him from the bottom of her heart. And he tells him stories about her and shows him pictures of her, every day. As difficult as it is for Levy, who is still grieving his wife's death, he says he has promised himself that they won't stop speaking about her. 'Even when it's hard,' Levy said, 'It's harder for him (to not remember his mother).' Despite his gratitude for every day he gets with his son, Levy's ordeal won't truly be over until all the hostages are home. 'The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night,' Levy said. Watching the stop-and-start progress of ceasefire negotiations has been 'very difficult,' he said – especially knowing that Hamas tends to treat the hostages worse at the times when those negotiations stall or backslide. He recalled Hamas tightening the shackles around his legs in moments when ceasefire talks sputtered. 'Very easily, I could have been still there,' he added. He could have been in Alon Ohel's place – the 24-year-old hostage with dreams of studying music, with whom Levy spent most of his captivity and who remains in Gaza. 'I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home,' Levy said. 'I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finish everything. Finish everything.'
CNN
17-07-2025
- CNN
‘That people are still there haunts me in the night': Former Hamas hostage says ordeal won't truly end until everyone is home
The sight of Or Levy emerging in February from Hamas captivity shocked the world. The 34-year-old's pale, emaciated frame stood as a testament to the brutal conditions he endured during the 491 days he was held hostage – almost all of which he spent underground, shackled and hungry. 'It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days … no human should live like that,' Levy said in an interview with CNN this week. 'And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I've been through – and it's scary.' Levy has now been home for five months. That time, he says, has been a rollercoaster of emotions, beginning the day he was released, which he describes as both the best and hardest of his life. He was reunited with his son, Almog, who was just two years old when his father was kidnapped. But he also learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed in the attacks of October 7, 2023 – and had to begin the process of grieving her. It was the first question Levy asked the Israeli military representative who greeted him as he stepped out of captivity. 'I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100% certain, and that I want to know,' Levy said. 'And then she told me.' For 491 days, Levy suspected that his wife may have been killed in Hamas' attack on the bomb shelter from which he was kidnapped, but still held out hope that she may have survived. Most of all, he said he wasn't prepared to know the truth and did not ask his captors whether she had survived. Instead, Levy said he stayed alive by focusing on his son – and a mantra that he learned from Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who would be executed months later by Hamas. Levy and Goldberg-Polin were taken hostage from the same bomb shelter near the Nova music festival. Seven weeks later, they were reunited in Hamas's tunnels and spent three days in captivity together. 'I remember Hersh telling me this sentence … 'He who has a 'why' can bear any 'how','' Levy recalled, a quote often attributed to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl referenced in a book about surviving the Holocaust. Almog was Levy's 'why.' On difficult days, when Levy said he thought about dying, he would touch his left arm and think about the mantra – and his son. One of those days was his son's birthday last year. With tears in his eyes, Levy recalled spending most of the day crying, quietly singing 'Happy Birthday' to his son, telling the other hostages about him and promising that he would do whatever it took to spend Almog's next birthday together. Levy was able to keep that promise two weeks ago, celebrating Almog's fourth birthday at their home in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Levy also got the mantra that helped him survive captivity tattooed on his arm – on the same spot he envisioned it while in captivity. Or's reunion with his son was nerve-wracking and emotional. He feared that his son might not recognize him. But the moment they embraced all those fears washed away. 'I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice … crazy,' Levy said. Levy has now dedicated himself to being Almog's father, full-time. Increasingly, that has meant answering his son's questions about the 'far place' where he has told his son he was being held and about his mother. 'The story that we told – that he knows – is that a big bomb happened and that unfortunately, mom is dead and I was taken to a far place, and people were trying to get me home,' Levy said. 'So he asks – he asks about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it? And he asked me about my wounds. He asked me again, why didn't I take him with me to this far place?' Levy said he tells his son that his mom didn't want to leave him, that she loved him from the bottom of her heart. And he tells him stories about her and shows him pictures of her, every day. As difficult as it is for Levy, who is still grieving his wife's death, he says he has promised himself that they won't stop speaking about her. 'Even when it's hard,' Levy said, 'It's harder for him (to not remember his mother).' Despite his gratitude for every day he gets with his son, Levy's ordeal won't truly be over until all the hostages are home. 'The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night,' Levy said. Watching the stop-and-start progress of ceasefire negotiations has been 'very difficult,' he said – especially knowing that Hamas tends to treat the hostages worse at the times when those negotiations stall or backslide. He recalled Hamas tightening the shackles around his legs in moments when ceasefire talks sputtered. 'Very easily, I could have been still there,' he added. He could have been in Alon Ohel's place – the 24-year-old hostage with dreams of studying music, with whom Levy spent most of his captivity and who remains in Gaza. 'I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home,' Levy said. 'I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finish everything. Finish everything.'
CNN
17-07-2025
- CNN
‘That people are still there haunts me in the night': Former Hamas hostage says ordeal won't truly end until everyone is home
The sight of Or Levy emerging in February from Hamas captivity shocked the world. The 34-year-old's pale, emaciated frame stood as a testament to the brutal conditions he endured during the 491 days he was held hostage – almost all of which he spent underground, shackled and hungry. 'It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days … no human should live like that,' Levy said in an interview with CNN this week. 'And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I've been through – and it's scary.' Levy has now been home for five months. That time, he says, has been a rollercoaster of emotions, beginning the day he was released, which he describes as both the best and hardest of his life. He was reunited with his son, Almog, who was just two years old when his father was kidnapped. But he also learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed in the attacks of October 7, 2023 – and had to begin the process of grieving her. It was the first question Levy asked the Israeli military representative who greeted him as he stepped out of captivity. 'I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100% certain, and that I want to know,' Levy said. 'And then she told me.' For 491 days, Levy suspected that his wife may have been killed in Hamas' attack on the bomb shelter from which he was kidnapped, but still held out hope that she may have survived. Most of all, he said he wasn't prepared to know the truth and did not ask his captors whether she had survived. Instead, Levy said he stayed alive by focusing on his son – and a mantra that he learned from Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who would be executed months later by Hamas. Levy and Goldberg-Polin were taken hostage from the same bomb shelter near the Nova music festival. Seven weeks later, they were reunited in Hamas's tunnels and spent three days in captivity together. 'I remember Hersh telling me this sentence … 'He who has a 'why' can bear any 'how','' Levy recalled, a quote often attributed to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl referenced in a book about surviving the Holocaust. Almog was Levy's 'why.' On difficult days, when Levy said he thought about dying, he would touch his left arm and think about the mantra – and his son. One of those days was his son's birthday last year. With tears in his eyes, Levy recalled spending most of the day crying, quietly singing 'Happy Birthday' to his son, telling the other hostages about him and promising that he would do whatever it took to spend Almog's next birthday together. Levy was able to keep that promise two weeks ago, celebrating Almog's fourth birthday at their home in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Levy also got the mantra that helped him survive captivity tattooed on his arm – on the same spot he envisioned it while in captivity. Or's reunion with his son was nerve-wracking and emotional. He feared that his son might not recognize him. But the moment they embraced all those fears washed away. 'I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice … crazy,' Levy said. Levy has now dedicated himself to being Almog's father, full-time. Increasingly, that has meant answering his son's questions about the 'far place' where he has told his son he was being held and about his mother. 'The story that we told – that he knows – is that a big bomb happened and that unfortunately, mom is dead and I was taken to a far place, and people were trying to get me home,' Levy said. 'So he asks – he asks about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it? And he asked me about my wounds. He asked me again, why didn't I take him with me to this far place?' Levy said he tells his son that his mom didn't want to leave him, that she loved him from the bottom of her heart. And he tells him stories about her and shows him pictures of her, every day. As difficult as it is for Levy, who is still grieving his wife's death, he says he has promised himself that they won't stop speaking about her. 'Even when it's hard,' Levy said, 'It's harder for him (to not remember his mother).' Despite his gratitude for every day he gets with his son, Levy's ordeal won't truly be over until all the hostages are home. 'The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night,' Levy said. Watching the stop-and-start progress of ceasefire negotiations has been 'very difficult,' he said – especially knowing that Hamas tends to treat the hostages worse at the times when those negotiations stall or backslide. He recalled Hamas tightening the shackles around his legs in moments when ceasefire talks sputtered. 'Very easily, I could have been still there,' he added. He could have been in Alon Ohel's place – the 24-year-old hostage with dreams of studying music, with whom Levy spent most of his captivity and who remains in Gaza. 'I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home,' Levy said. 'I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finish everything. Finish everything.'
Egypt Independent
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Israeli survivor of deadly suicide bombing grapples with the release of the man who ordered the attack
Haifa, Israel CNN — The last image Oran Almog saw before losing his sight was dead bodies covered in glass – five of them, members of his own family. A suicide bomber had detonated an explosive belt at a Haifa restaurant, killing Almog's father, brother, grandparents and cousin. 'I remember us sitting down, ordering something to eat. And the next thing I remember is myself lying on the ground,' Almog told CNN in an interview. The terrorist attack killed 21 people and wounded 60, including Almog, who was blinded on October 4, 2003. Now, more than two decades later, the man who dispatched the bomber – Sami Jaradat – has been released from Israeli prison as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal reached between Hamas and Israel in January. He is among 1,735 Palestinian prisoners released during the ceasefire agreement in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages. While most prisoners released have not been convicted of any crime and just one-third were convicted of murder or attempted murder, the Israeli government and media typically refer to all prisoners as 'terrorists,' which has driven public perceptions around the deal in Israel. The news of Jaradat's release left Almog stunned and speechless. 'I never imagined that he would go out from the jail… I was speechless. It was giving really deep pain for me. Not angry, not disappointed, only feeling something was broken in my heart,' he said. But soon afterwards, Almog began to realize what he called the 'price' of this deal, and believed it was one worth paying. 'I understood if Sami Jaradat will stay in the jail forever, my family who was murdered in the terror attack, they will never return alive. But living Israeli hostages still can come back, so this is what was important for me,' he said. Almog penned an op-ed in Israeli newspaper Haaretz shortly after he learned Jaradat would be released, urging Israelis to 'put aside the disagreements over the price, and focus on the main thing' – referring to the release of hostages. Protesters' opposition Jaradat and 109 other Palestinians were freed from detention on January 30 following the release of Israeli hostages Arbel Yehoud, Gadi Moses and Israeli soldier Agam Berger, who were taken captive during the October 7 attacks. Almog said it reminded him of the moment his cousin Chen Almog-Goldstein, who was also taken hostage by Hamas with her surviving children on October 7, was released during the first short-lived ceasefire and hostage release deal in November 2023. 'I will never forget this evening when they got the first hug from our family… I understood the joy and happiness of Israelis coming back home,' he reflected. But Almog's perspective is not one shared by all Israelis. Many, including a small number of hostage families that belong to the right-wing Tikva Forum and Gvura Forum, have opposed a ceasefire from the get-go. Days after the deal was announced on January 15, hundreds of protesters belonging to the two forums took to the streets in Jerusalem, chanting, 'Don't make a deal with the devil!' and 'Sinwar was also released in a deal!' They recall how Yahya Sinwar, the late leader of Hamas and architect of the October 7 attacks, was released from Israeli imprisonment along with 1,027 Palestinians in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. Yehoshua Shani, the father of an Israeli soldier killed on October 7, invoked that history and called all Palestinians being released 'vile murderers.' 'The price of this deal has already been written, we just don't know who will pay the price,' he said. Some Israelis oppose the release of Palestinians from Israeli jails and instead insist that defeating Hamas through strong military action should be the top priority for Israel and is the best strategy to bring back the hostages. Under the first phase of the ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hamas, which lasted 42 days and concluded last weekend, leaving the truce hanging by a thread, 33 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 1,735 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. A 'bargaining chip' According to information from the Israel Prison Service and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, the majority of those cleared for release were detained without charge and were not put on trial or given an opportunity to defend themselves. Of the 1,735 Palestinians, about 15 percent were convicted of killing Israelis, including civilians and soldiers. Most of them were imprisoned during the first and second intifadas, uprisings by Palestinians against Israel's military occupation of the West Bank. Another 18 percent were convicted of attempted murder. Nearly two-thirds of the total were being held without trial, including 1,000 Palestinians detained in Gaza during the war, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society and the Israel Prison Service. The remainder were convicted of lesser charges like being affiliated to an 'outlawed organization' or 'incitement,' a vague charge that has been used to jail Palestinians over social media posts, including those expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. That nuance is often lost on the Israeli public, political analyst and Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin told CNN. 'Israelis believe that a Palestinian that's being held in Israeli detention – by virtue of being held in Israeli detention – must be a terrorist,' she said. Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank fall under the jurisdiction of Israel's military court system, where rights groups say the conviction rate is over 99 percent. Human rights organizations have denounced the system as a means to maintain Israel's control over Palestinians. 'There's no question that many people were arrested, detained, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, for the purpose of having them as a bargaining chip. And some of those people probably didn't commit any act, maybe some of them did…the problem is that Israelis are not willing to look at both of those types of prisoners,' Scheindlin said. Still, despite equating the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to the release of terrorists, Israeli polling suggests a majority of Israelis overwhelmingly support the ceasefire and hostage release deal. Like most Israelis, Almog has come to prioritize the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza over the 'price' of freeing Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis. But he will not forget that price, nor what it has delivered. 'To understand the price, that my pain brings the Israeli hostages home… is really important to me,' Almog said. 'I don't know, maybe someday I will meet Agam, Gadi and Arbel and feel the full meaning, the full importance of this deal and this price to me.'
