Omri Miran, the last hostage with Hungarian citizenship, has returned home after two years of unimaginable suffering, as details of his captivity have emerged.
Omri was freed from Hamas captivity along with 18 other living hostages on 13 October. Since then, Omri had been hospitalized at Ichilov Hospital, where he met his daughters for the first time since his return.
Who Is Omri?
Omri, then 46 years old, was a Shiatsu therapist and owner of a private clinic called Echad HaAdam in Kibbutz Nahal Oz before Hamas terrorists kidnapped him.
He had been an active member of the Israeli settlement. In the mornings, he took care of the plants and the beauty of the kibbutz, and in the evenings, he cared fot people and tended to the body and soul of everyone around him. Locals knew him as a caring, loving, supportive, and understanding partner to Lishay and a proud, involved, and ever-present father to Roni and Alma.
On 7 October Omri, Lishay, and their daughters were taken hostage by Hamas for about three hours. On that Saturday morning, after hearing the sirens, the Miran family rushed to their safe room. At 10:30am, Hamas terrorists broke into their house and forced them to come out together alongside a 16-year-old neighbour, Tomer Arbe-Eliaz, who had asked the family for help before.
The terrorists initially wanted to kill the family but decided to relocate everyone to a neighbouring house. As they were sitting on the floor, they heard how the 18-year-old daughter of the neighbouring family was killed. At around 1pm, two more women were brought to the house. During those hours, they were filmed live on Facebook (a live video that was shared and viewed by millions around the world), weapons were aimed directly at them, and an RPG was placed in front of them.
At around 1:30pm, Omri was abducted before the eyes of Lishay and their daughters. Lishay told Omri minutes before: ‘I love you, I’ll protect our girls, we’re waiting for you, and don’t be a hero.’
From then, two signs of life from Omri have been received. The first video proof arrived in April 2024, in a clip where he appeared alongside fellow hostage survivor Keith Siegel. In that video, Omri said:
‘My dear family, I miss you all. Dad, my brother, my brothers and sister, my beloved Lishay, and my dear daughters Roni and Alma.’ Three weeks later, Omri’s father said that ‘Hamas announced it had lost contact with him.’
Hamas released another video of Omri on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day this year. In the footage, Omri can be heard crying out from the tunnel: ‘I really miss…my wife, my whole family. It’s very hard for us.’
‘I’m here, but there are still people there’
Omri Miran has returned home after 738 days in captivity, having been kidnapped from Nahal Oz. Emotional photos from the hospital show him playing with his daughters, a wide smile on his face.
When Omri entered Israeli territory, his wife Lishay Miran Lavi spoke with their little daughters and told them: ‘Daddy has arrived, Daddy is back. Soon, Daddy will give you a hug.’ When Omri was kidnapped to Gaza, his daughters Alma and Roni were two years old and six months old, respectively.
‘At first, he was in terrible anxiety because he didn’t know what had happened to the girls and Lishay,’ his father told reporters.
‘Later, when he found out and saw on TV channels and heard on the radio that Lishay and the girls were safe, he calmed down. He said that was the greatest relief he had during captivity. From time to time, he saw me, Lishi, and his siblings on television. And when there wasn’t TV, they listened to the radio.’
Earlier, it was revealed that Omri had been held in 23 different locations during his captivity.
‘Sometimes he cooked food for his fellow captives, and they liked his food,’ his brother, Nadav, said.
‘He counted every day in his head, and didn’t write it down. He knew exactly the date and roughly which day he was on. He spent most of the day playing card games with his fellow captives.’
Omri described how, at first, there were five hostages confined in a 1.80 × 1.60-metre cage, bent over and unable to stand. Gradually, the others were taken away until only he and one fellow captive remained. At one point, shortly after the kidnapping, he was handcuffed for three weeks. He recounted that the terrorists had placed Kalashnikov rifles near the hostages; he considered using one to escape but realized it would be futile.
Since being released from Hamas captivity, Omri has been discharged from hospital so that he can return home.
Now it’s time to come back to life, to continue living, and to return to family’
‘I’m here, but there are still people there,’ he told the media.
‘There are still families who haven’t yet had their closure and their new beginning. Over the past week there have been memorials and funerals, and my heart is with everyone. Now it’s time to come back to life, to continue living, and to return to family. I feel wonderful—thank you to all the people of Israel.’
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