Father and husband of hostages freed in Nov. 2023 on what lies ahead for the newly released
Avihai Brodutch, who sat outside Defense Ministry demanding return of his family, says the 3 hostages freed after 471 days, 2 of whom are from his kibbutz, will ‘live it their whole lives’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Avihai Brodutch, whose wife Hagar and three young children were taken hostage during the October 7 attacks and returned home in the November 2023 ceasefire, shared some of the family’s experiences on Sunday, as Israel awaited the return of the first three hostages freed under the current deal.
Brodutch and his family are members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, also the home of Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, two of the hostages released Sunday evening, along with Romi Gonen, who was taken from the Nova music festival.
“We’ve been waiting a very long time for their return,” Brodutch said in a video call with journalists.
The kibbutz is awaiting three more hostages, Keith Siegel and twin brothers Gali Berman and Ziv Berman. Siegel is named as one of the 33 hostages to be released in the first stage of the ceasefire.
The family’s hostage trauma began on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Brodutch left his wife and children in the sealed room of their Kfar Aza home, and took his gun to fight Hamas terrorists invading the kibbutz.
When Brodutch returned home, wounded, his family was gone and he assumed they were dead. It took another 24 hours before he found out that his family had been taken hostage to Gaza, along with Abigail Edan, their neighbor’s daughter, then three years old.
Brodutch was the family member to protest outside Israel’s Defense Ministry complex in Tel Aviv for the hostages’ return in the days following the attack. He remained there for days, along with the family dog, demanding the government’s immediate response to the hostage crisis.

Brodutch said he felt that the government had failed the Israeli people, given the months of protests, the ongoing war and the suffering of the nation.
“A lot of hostages died, a lot of soldiers died, and this is just on our side,” he said. “And a lot on the other side has been destroyed and lost. And a lot of the lives lost have been in vain, I’m sorry to say.”
When Brodutch’s family returned on November 26, 2023, the third day of the week-long hostage release, it was the happiest day of his life, he said, akin to the births of his three children.
After being called at 2 a.m. and told that his family was being released home, Brodutch said he went to his home in Kfar Aza, which was still in ruins, to search for his children’s stuffed animals and pillows and his wife’s pocketbook.
“I stuffed the cars with things and went to Schneider [Hospital],” said Brodutch, who described the first moment when he saw his family as a miracle.
They were very thin and full of lice but full of life, “and breathing and speaking,” he said.
“We relive this day over and over again,” said Brodutch, adding that the family celebrated the anniversary of their release this past November 26 with a special meal, which they’ll do every year to mark the family’s miraculous return home.

Brodutch lauded US President-elect Donald Trump for helping bring about the current ceasefire and hostage deal.
“We have to thank Donald Trump for what he did, I don’t really know what he did,” said Brodutch, in the video call with journalists organized by the Media Central press organization and the Hostages Forum. “He has the magic touch, I guess, and he deserves anything. If I could do anything for this very special person, the next president of America. We’re really, really grateful. We’ve been waiting for so long.”
Brodutch’s family tells him new stories of their time in Gaza every day, he said. He knows now that Hagar Brodutch spent hours each day in captivity distracting the children with stories of her travels with Avihai in Thailand and Australia, and of the food they would all eat after surviving in Gaza on mostly pita.
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said. “They’re going to live it their whole lives.”
Yet, said Brodutch, his family is doing well, still living in Shefayim, the kibbutz in the country’s center that has housed evacuees from Kfar Aza since October 7, 2023. Some of the kibbutz members have resettled in the south, at least temporarily, in Kibbutz Ruhama.
“They go to school, they’re happy kids,” Brodutch said of his children, adding that he sometimes watches them as they sleep. “Kids are remarkable, they get up and live their lives. They all smiled on the first day. Only my wife was crying. They keep smiling and it’s just overwhelming.”
At the same time, they now get scared at the sounds of jet engines. Hagar Brodutch told her husband they heard similar sounds in Gaza during IDF bombings in the first weeks of the war.
“It’s a trigger for what they went through in Gaza,” said Brodutch. “We’re still a happy family but some things inside may never heal.”