Yosef-Haim Ohana, 25, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival and held for 738 days in Hamas captivity. On Sunday, he went home to Kiryat Malakhi.
Ohana was welcomed in the city, accompanied by hundreds of people who blew shofars.
“We have a reason to celebrate after these two years. We need to live with great gratitude and remember that nothing is taken for granted. Keep smiling and being happy,” he shared during the emotional ceremony.
Ohana thanked the crowd. “The residents of Kiryat Malakhi [“City of Angels”] don’t call it that for nothing. For me, each of you is like an angel welcoming me back home and making me feel good.”
Yosef-Haim Ohana survived 738 days in captivity.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 30, 2025
Today, he walks out of rehabilitation and finally returns home to Kiryat Malachi, stepping back into his life with a joy that words can’t begin to describe.
Welcome home Yosef 💛 pic.twitter.com/JpGMqylaip
Avi Ohana, Yosef-Haim’s father, said through tears, “After millions of prayers from the people of Israel who cried out, there wasn’t a 1% chance he would return home—this is our personal parting of the Red Sea.”
His mother Miriam said emotionally, “I want to thank Bibi Netanyahu, the soldiers and everyone who took part in his return. With God’s help, may everyone return until the last hostage.”
Mayor Eliyahu (“Lalo”) Zohar said, “How much insight, wisdom and pure modesty you have, Yosef-Haim.”
At the ceremony, they planted an etrog tree after Avi Ohana spoke about the miracle of the Four Species (lulav, etrog, hadass and aravah) that allegedly brought his son home. “A few days before October 7, you recited a blessing over the Four Species, and I told you that blessing would keep you alive. I didn’t know about the festival and what would happen a few days later.”
A few days before Yosef-Haim returned from Gaza, his father bought a set of Four Species, hoping they would bless him. “We merited that you recited a blessing on the last day of the [Sukkot] holiday over the Four Species in addition to the Shehecheyanu [blessing of gratitude for reaching a new occasion].”
Ohana is the son of a single mother. On Oct. 7, 2023, he went out to celebrate at the Supernova party near Re’im but was kidnapped from there by the Gazan terrorists after he and a friend helped evacuate the wounded to medics and ambulances. For two weeks, he was defined as missing, and the family didn’t know what happened to him.
“I was happy he was alive, but before that, there was uncertainty about what was happening with him,” said Miri Ben Ami, his mother.
After his return from Gaza, Ohana shared in an interview on Channel 12 that his captors used to put the hostages in difficult and jarring situations. “They sat us down and told us, ‘Your country did such and such, now we’re taking revenge.’ They made us choose who to kill and who only to injure. They ran a lottery on us,” he recounted.
He described how at first, the hostages hoped to see their captors—perhaps to receive a bit of water or tea—but very quickly that light in the tunnel became a symbol of fear.
“Every time we saw flashlights, we had an anxiety attack. We would have preferred they not come for a week, a month, that they leave us alone,” he said. According to him, on one occasion, “They came in, we greeted them with peace, and suddenly they started beating us. They stood us against the wall, pulled off shirts, and began hitting.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
