Agam Berger, the Israel Defense Forces field observer who was released from Gaza on Jan. 30 after 482 days in Hamas captivity, prayed at Joseph’s Tomb in the Samaria city of Nablus (Shechem) overnight Sunday.
Berger, 20, was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the IDF’s Nahal Oz military outpost during the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion, along with several other female field observers. She was released as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas that ended on March 1.
Berger, who has spoken extensively about how she kept faith during her almost 500 days in captivity, visited Joseph’s Tomb under heavy security together with her mother, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Samaria Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon and military officials.
Berger and Dagan lit a candle at the site, and the Samaria council head presented her with a certificate of appreciation citing her words after being released: “I chose the path of faith.” Rabbi Levanon blessed Agam and her mother and led a prayer for the return of all the captives and for victory in the war against Hamas.
“No one must be left behind. They need us and our prayers—they need us to be strong for them,” Berger was cited as saying in Hebrew reports.
“Oct. 7 was a time for our personal and collective soul-searching. I came here to pray for our brothers to be embraced by their families,” explained Agam’s mother Merav Berger. “We need to return to basics and see ourselves [the Jewish people] as a family,” she added.
“May the kidnapped be blessed with visiting this sacred place—which belongs to us Jews—not in the dead of night,” Merav said of restrictions on Jewish visits to the tomb in the Palestinian Authority city. “Agam was kidnapped as a Jewess, and it is time for us to return to our identity, to our values, to act as Jews. May redemption come soon and with mercy.”
Joseph’s Tomb has frequently been the target of Arab vandals. When the Israeli government abandoned the site days after a deadly attack there on Oct. 1, 2000, it elicited a promise from the P.A. that the site would be protected after security forces left. It was destroyed shortly afterwards.
After 2022, security conditions in Judea and Samaria deteriorated to the point that the IDF again began operating in Shechem. At first, small groups of Jewish worshippers made risky attempts to pray at the tomb, unauthorized and without military escort. Larger groups now regularly enter at night, generally accompanied by heavy military presence.