Avinatan Or Reveals His Attempt to Escape Hamas Captivity

Three years ago today, Hamas terrorists seized Avinatan Or at the Nova music festival. His kidnapping was caught on video as he was pulled away from his then-girlfriend, Noa Argamani. This week he told the story of how he tried to free himself. Or spoke to Channel 12's Uvda program in an interview aired Monday, reported by The Jerusalem Post and All Israel News. He said he planned an escape while held alone in an underground cell.

Or was kept in darkness, The Jerusalem Post reported. He felt along the walls and found a section of sandbags with air moving through it. "That doesn't happen in a tunnel," Or said. For about six months he dug through those sandbags with a 60 meter extension cable. He hid the work from the security camera with a garbage bag.

He got ready for the day he would break out. He packed clothing he had found and a sack with the word "Hostage" on it, The Jerusalem Post reported. He also wrote a will and letters to his parents, in case he was killed after his escape. "I wasn't willing to sit back and simply let others decide my fate," he told Channel 12, according to All Israel News.

When he finally broke through the wall, he was discovered and captured again. What followed, he said, was torture, starvation and beatings. All Israel News reported he was shackled to the cell door. He stayed in captivity another year. He was freed on Oct. 13, 2025, after two years as a hostage.

Before his release, one of the Hamas terrorists who held him urged him to leave for Europe. "You know why? Because we will carry out another October 7th. As long as there is a single Jew in the Land of Israel, we will slaughter you again and again," Or said the terrorist told him. Or did not flinch. "I looked at him and said, 'I'm not leaving,'" he recounted. He asked the man whether he would leave the ruins of Gaza for Egypt when the war ended. The terrorist said no, because Gaza was his home. Or answered, "Excellent - this is my home, too."

What it means: on this third anniversary, every hostage, living and dead, has come home. Or's account shows what they carried alone in the dark, and the resolve that brought him back to the land he refused to leave. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” (Psalm 118:17)

Or told Channel 12 that his greatest fear in captivity was being forgotten, of "becoming another Ron Arad," All Israel News reported. Ron Arad was an Israel Air Force officer captured in Lebanon in 1986 after ejecting from his plane. Or said his army training taught him that no defense is ever perfect, The Jerusalem Post reported. "In the army they always told us, there's no such thing as a 100% perfect defense, there will always be some weak point," he said. All Israel News reported that once he broke through, he realized he should go back to the cell and try to escape at night, but he was caught.

Or also described a longer exchange with one of his captors, All Israel News reported. He told the man that in another 100 years there would still be Jews and Arabs in the land, and he asked whether their children and grandchildren would keep killing each other or whether both sides would be wise enough to find a way to live there together. Or said his parents fought for him "like crazy," and that while they fought for him they were fighting for other things too. All Israel News reported that Or was freed in the final hostage release under the Gaza peace deal negotiated by President Trump.