(JEWISH GROUP) 'No matter what, I choose life': Alon Ohel shares how he survived 2 years in Gaza captivity

Surviving hostage Alon Ohel speaks with Channel 12 in an interview aired on December 1, 2025.
(Screenshot/Channel 12)

Alon Ohel, who was held hostage for two years in Gaza, said he was intentionally starved and “chained like a monkey” for the vast majority of his captivity but still made a conscious decision to survive.

“Anyone who wasn’t there won’t be able to understand it. You’ve never experienced hunger, you’ve never been chained for a year and a half. Chained like a monkey, eating like a dog. There, you’re not a human being, you’re an animal,” he recalled during an interview with Channel 12 that aired on Monday.

Ohel was abducted from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023, as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

Ohel, now 24, was taken captive along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Eliya Cohen. Goldberg-Polin was murdered in captivity, while Cohen was released in a hostage deal in January 2025.

In his interview, Ohel recalled his capture, his first painful days as a hostage, repeatedly coming close to being killed by IDF fire, the bond he built with fellow hostage Eli Sharabi, and what it was like to spend so many months alone after those he was held with were released.

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