Jerusalem — Early on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Ohad Ben Ami heard the alarm go off in his neighborhood of Kibbutz Be’eri. He and his spouse bumped into their house’s protected room, the place they shortly realized that one thing uncommon was taking place.
On his cellphone, Ben Ami might see that alarms have been sounding at different, close by kibbutzim. There have been additionally studies of airborne assaults. He shut the cellphone off to keep away from panicking.
About quarter-hour later, he heard folks exterior.
“Then I perceive that it is vitally extreme, and it isn’t solely missile assault. It is one thing way more sophisticated,” Ben Ami stated.
He began receiving messages from neighbors who advised him that attackers had entered their homes. So he crawled from his protected room to attempt to safe the doorways to his house. Then, he was shot.
As he retreated to his protected room, attackers adopted him. They simply opened the door behind him, which was solely meant to guard these inside from projectiles or flames and couldn’t be locked.
After they entered, Ben Ami’s spouse was hidden, so Ben Ami advised them he was alone.
“I used to be positive I will be lifeless,” he stated.
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However not like a lot of his neighbors that day at Kibbutz Be’eri, Ben Ami wasn’t killed. Loaded into the again seat of a automobile, he was taken to Gaza, the place he would spend 491 days in captivity.
“In my thoughts, I am down there”
Throughout his time as a hostage, Ben Ami was moved from condominium to condominium. Many didn’t have operating water or functioning bogs.
“The circumstances have been very, very unhealthy. Very unhealthy. On a regular basis, the IDF [Israeli military] is bombing. So we’re very afraid to die from our bombs,” Ben Ami stated.
Generally he was held with different hostages, together with — for a time — his spouse Raz Ben Ami, who had been captured as effectively. She was freed within the first hostage and prisoner trade deal between Israel and Hamas later in 2023.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty 
Ben Ami was moved under floor, into the Hamas tunnel community, the place he stated there was no gentle, little or no meals, and the sanitary circumstances have been extraordinarily poor.
He was put into an space with two different hostages, Elkaha Bohbot and Bar Kuperstein. Three extra Israeli captives joined them, however the quantity of meals they acquired didn’t enhance.
“On a regular basis, we’re hungry. We’re very nervous. We attempt to wrestle and to get used to the scenario,” he stated.
The group started to shed extra pounds, attempting to divide very restricted meals amongst them. However regardless of the dire circumstances, Ben Ami managed to maintain going.
“They [Hamas] allow us to see tv quarter-hour as soon as in a month … so we noticed that the folks in Israel are preventing for us,” he stated. “They [Hamas] advised us that our authorities don’t desire us again. The military, Israeli military, is seeking to kill us. The Israeli authorities will not pay the value. And our households are quiet. However after we noticed on the TV that every one of Israel exit… this give us hope. Give us a number of hope to proceed and be sturdy.”
In February this yr, Ben Ami was launched as a part of the final hostage and prisoner trade deal, however his companions weren’t.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP 
“After I consider the 5 of my pals and all of the 48 hostages which can be nonetheless down there, I am very, very apprehensive for them,” Ben Ami stated. “I really like my nation, and I really like the folks, however our authorities is disconnected. And till now, I’ve the sensation of insult. I really feel that they deserted me.”
As negotiations are underway in Egypt on a deal that would doubtlessly see the discharge of all of the remaining hostages, Ben Ami says he is hopeful.
“I converse and I discuss — however in my thoughts, I am down there. So till they arrive again, all of the 48, I can’t dwell. I am nonetheless a hostage. I am a free man, however not in my soul,” he stated. “I ask all the perimeters to go to the center after which … to shake arms and end it and produce (house) all of the hostages. To offer our nation the time to recuperate, and likewise the Palestinians. Additionally they must recuperate from all this factor that occurred.”
