The Hostage Families Forum Headquarters shared a message from the family of Yonatan Samerano on Thursday, on what should have been his 23rd birthday.
It has been “18 months since our Yonti was shot and kidnapped,” and since then, “his fate became shrouded in uncertainty,” the family reflected.
Despite the pain, they emphasized, “we are not giving up, and today we mark his 23rd birthday.” They chose to honor him “as Yonatan would have wanted—by spreading love, through dancing, and with shared hope.”
Today, Yonatan Samerano was supposed to celebrate his 23rd birthday.
— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) June 5, 2025
Yonatan Samerano's family shared the following message:
"Today, Yonatan should be celebrating his 23rd birthday. It has been one year and eight months since our Yonti was shot and kidnapped. One year and eight…
The message continued, “We want Yonatan, wherever he is, to know that we are with him and that he is never forgotten, not for a single moment. In these difficult times, when it seems we may have forgotten what came before the events of Oct. 7, we ask everyone to focus on the unity of our entire people around the single overarching goal: bringing home the 58 hostages who are still in Gaza. We must bring them back. All of them. So that we can all rise up, grow stronger, and live again in security, and so that we can return to dancing and celebrating.”
(Israel announced the recovery and return of two bodies on Thursday, bringing the total number of captives remaining in Gaza—alive and deceased—to 56.)
Samerano was 21 on Oct. 7, 2023, when he was shot by Hamas terrorists and abducted by a U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) social worker. He was attending the Supernova music festival with friends when the attack began. Attempting to escape, Yonatan fled to Kibbutz Be’eri, where he was shot and subsequently kidnapped.
Later investigations revealed that his body was taken into Gaza by Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, a Hamas terrorist employed as a social worker by UNRWA.
For nearly two months, Yonatan was considered a hostage, but in December 2023, his family was informed that he had been murdered on Oct. 7 and that his body remained in Hamas’s hands.
Yonatan’s parents have filed a lawsuit against UNRWA with the Jerusalem District Court, accusing the agency of complicity in the attack and demanding justice.
