Ex-hostage Avinatan Or details unsuccessful escape attempt, severe beatings

Freed hostage Avinatan Or on Sunday night recounted harrowing details from his time in Hamas captivity, describing his failed escape attempt, severe beatings and the ways he kept himself focused while stuck in Gaza’s tunnels for more than two years.

Or, who was released last month as part of the ceasefire deal, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, and was held alone during his captivity. His girlfriend, Noa Argamani, was also kidnapped from the festival and was rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024.

Speaking alongside Argamani and recently freed captives Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Or told the audience at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly, taking place in Washington, DC, that he sometimes didn’t see another human being for days.

He described his escape attempt, which was first revealed shortly after his release.

“I tried to escape,” he told the conference. “I dug for weeks through sandbags, through a collapsed tunnel towards the surface. I made myself work to change my own destiny.”

He continued, “One day, as I was digging, I hit the root of a tree. I smelled it. It felt like touching life in the place of death. Then, one night, I reached the outside. I saw stars for the first time in years.”

אבינתן אור חשף הלילה פרטים על ניסיון הבריחה שלו משהי חמאס: "חפרתי במשך שבועות. לילה אחד יצאתי החוצה, כתבתי 'חטוף' על שק חול. אבל הם גילו והכו אותי במשך ימים כשאני קשור לכסא״ pic.twitter.com/kIptSTfY6P

— זמן אמת (@zmanemet308) November 17, 2025

“I wrote ‘hostage’ on a white sandbag,” he said, “planning my next step, but they found out. They beat me for days, they tied me to a chair for a week.”

He added: “I was sure I will die there, but even then, I wrote three things next to my bed: ‘This too shall pass,’ ‘patience,’ and ‘let it be.’ These words kept me human.”

“I was underground in Gaza for 738 days, alone, chained, without light and without food,” he continued. “I was one of the last hostages to return home. I was in the tunnels alone during my entire captivity. For more than two years, I did not see sunlight, days passed without anyone speaking to me, I did not hear my language, no one called my name. The hardest part is not knowing anything, not what day it is, not what happened in the world, not whether the people I love are still alive.”

“To survive, I created a few rules for myself, the first: patience, every day I told myself ‘just one more day,’ ‘don’t think any further ahead.’ Patience was my lifeline,” he said.

“Rule number two: find common ground,” he said. “I talked to my captors about faith, about the Torah and the Quran, about Joseph and Yusuf, about Abraham and Ibrahim, different names but universal stories.”

“Rule number three: anger destroys,” he continued. “You can’t survive when you’re angry. I allowed myself to feel it sometimes, but I let go.”

“Rule four: keep my brain working,” he said. “My engineering background saved me, I counted steps, collected data, built a small lamp from broken cables, planned escape routes in my head and told myself ‘you won’t let others decide your fate.'”

Speaking after Or at the conference, fellow recently freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal told the audience that while he was in captivity, he saw the support that Jewish communities around the world were giving to the hostages, and that it gave him hope.

“Before I was taken down to the tunnels, I managed to listen to the radio a little,” he said. “I heard what was happening in Israel and around the world, about all the love and support from the Jewish communities in America and around the world. You prayed for me and for all the other hostages to return home safely as soon as possible. You gave me hope and strength.”

“Our new journey is just beginning,” said Evyatar David, who was also freed from captivity last month. “A journey of healing and coping together with our families and amazing people like you who support us. We will recover, rebuild, and emerge stronger than ever.”

The four former hostages spoke at the event in Washington ahead of their expected Thursday meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump, who invited all 20 hostages released last month during the ceasefire he brokered between Israel and Hamas.

It is unknown whether all 20 hostages will attend, and several former captives on Sunday accused the Prime Minister’s Office of hijacking the trip and giving them worse travel conditions than were offered to them by the Trump administration.