Hostage’s father won’t dismantle last year’s sukkah until his son is home
Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 22, promised his father he would help put the hut away when he got back from the Nova festival
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Last October 6, Guy Gilboa-Dalal promised his father he would dismantle their sukkah, the temporary hut erected in the backyard for the Sukkot holiday, after he returned from the Nova rave.
On October 7, Gilboa-Dalal was one of 44 Nova partygoers who were kidnapped and taken hostage to Gaza by Hamas terrorists, while 364 others were killed in the massacre that took place on the festival grounds outside Kibbutz Re’im, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
In total, Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages, mostly civilians, in their rampage across southern Israeli communities that day.
Since then, 140 hostages have been released or rescued, and 101 hostages, including Gilboa-Dalal, remain in Gaza.
When the Gilboa-Dalals found out that Guy had been taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on that black Shabbat day, they decided to leave their simple sukkah structure standing in their backyard until he came back home, “leaving it as a sign of hope,” said Gal Gilboa-Dalal, Guy’s older brother.
“We’ve sat in the sukkah all year long,” said Gilboa-Dalal, describing their version of the typical sukkah popular throughout Israel, made of simple PVC pipes strung with white sheeting.
Their father puts it together every year, and Guy, who lives at home, always helps him put it up and dismantle it.
The sukkah is now full of pictures of Guy, and Guy’s friends visit the family and sit in the sukkah, said Gilboa-Dalal.
“They hold each other in the hope and optimism that he’s coming back,” he said.
Gal Gilboa-Dalal’s parents, Meirav Gilboa Dalal and Ilan Dalal and his younger sister, 16, as well as Guy, live in Alfei Menashe, a community built on the seam line between Israel and the West Bank.

Gal Gilboa-Dalal, 30, and his partner live nearby, in Hod Hasharon.
The family home is a garden apartment, with a large backyard “that makes you feel like you’re in nature,” said Gilboa-Dalal.
When Guy Gilboa-Dalal went to the Nova desert rave on October 6, 2023, he traveled with three friends, an outing they had planned for months. He met up with his brother, Gal, early in the morning on October 7, just as the party was getting underway.
The two brothers met, hugged, and took a selfie, which Guy sent to their mother. When the Hamas terrorists attacked at 6:30 a.m., the brothers attempted to escape, each in separate cars, a few minutes apart.

Both ended up in different places in the massive traffic jam at the exit to the festival and were separated during the volleys of fire from the terrorists.
It took Gal Gilboa-Dalal some seven and a half hours to escape, running and hiding in fields, surrounded by gun volleys and without any word from his brother.
Within several hours, their family found a video of Guy and his best friend Evyatar David being taken hostage in Gaza, along with footage of them tied up, lying in a tunnel.
Both are still held hostage in Gaza.
Since then, the Gilboa-Dalals have focused all their attention on the struggle to bring the hostages home.
As they mark one year since Guy was taken hostage, Gilboa-Dalal said the family will sit in the sukkah but they won’t celebrate, just as they’ve done during all the other holidays during the past year.
“Maybe we’ll eat a little something in the sukkah, but it won’t be celebratory, it won’t be in the spirit of the holiday, it won’t be like last year, when we gathered with the whole family,” said Gilboa-Dalal. “We hold each other, and we hold Guy from afar.”
Gal Gilboa-Dalal said he hasn’t spent much time on his own recovery after the massacre, instead focusing all of his attention on his brother, attending diplomatic missions, speaking to the press and to politicians to ensure that that story of the hostages remains in the headlines.
“It’s preferable to do something than not to do anything,” he said.

While the family is involved with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, they haven’t attended the more recent protests that have become more political than the supportive rallies held at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square earlier in the year, said Gilboa-Dalal.
“Those earlier rallies were without politics, and they showed we were united as a country, that was worthwhile,” he said. “Now they’re just about our internal conflicts and serve our enemies more than my brother.”
Gilboa-Dalal has received some treatment as a Nova survivor but is less interested in delving into his recovery until the hostages are released home.
“All that interests me is Guy,” said Gilboa-Dalal. “What helps me is anything that is connected to him.”
The last sign of life the Gilboa-Dalals had of Guy was in June, when four hostages, Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov were rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza in a daring operation by Israeli forces.
According to one of the rescued hostages who wasn’t identified, he was held with Gilboa-Dalal and several other hostages in the same room.
The freed hostage indicated that while Gilboa-Dalal and the other hostages were in good physical condition at the time, they were severely abused by their captors. The rescued hostage said they were both physically and mentally abused and received very little food and drink.
“Honestly, we don’t know anything,” said Gal Gilboa-Dalal. “That last thing that we heard was months ago.”
His parents aren’t in good shape, said Gilboa-Dalal. His younger sister has a routine that involves school, friends and her youth group, and she tries to stick to it.
“It’s hard,” he said. “None of us are around, and her best friend, Guy, isn’t here. We’re all missing him but we’re strong and we love each other and we’re optimistic.”