How a US family lobbied to free their 3-year-old, orphaned on Oct. 7, from Hamas captivity
US-Israeli citizen Abigail Mor Edan saw her parents murdered and was taken hostage to Gaza by terrorists. Liz Hirsh Naftali writes about the ordeal in new book ‘Saving Abigail’
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
The first thing one wants to know about Abigail Mor Edan — the 3-year-old dual US-Israeli citizen who saw her parents murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and ran, covered in her father’s blood, to a neighbor’s house for safety, only to be then taken hostage for 51 days — is how is she doing now.
Abigail was released in November, on the third day of a hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by the United States and other intermediaries. Her round cheeks, expressive brown eyes, and mop of unruly hair touched hearts worldwide.
In a telephone call from her home in New York, Abigail’s great-aunt Liz Hirsh Naftali called her a “beautiful, energetic, smart four-year-old” who is “full of life, playing with her friends, playing with her siblings, playing with her cousins, dancing, swimming, running.”
She loves fruit, French fries, chicken schnitzel, and strawberry ice cream, and enjoys cuddling.
“What we don’t know,” Hirsh Naftali added, “[is the longer-term] effect of what happened to her.”
Hirsh Naftali, a US-based businesswoman, has written a book titled “Saving Abigail” to tell the family’s story and document her efforts to secure Abigail’s release, which included meetings with US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other global figures. She wrote the book because she wants people to know “the truth of what happened on October 7,” she said, pointing to those who deny the events of that day. “Sadly, in our family, the tragedy is an opportunity to tell people the truth.”
On October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, brutally butchering 1,200 men, women and children, and kidnapping 251 to the Gaza Strip.
Hirsh Naftali’s sister-in-law Shlomit, Abigail’s grandmother, lived with the extended family in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that saw 63 of its 800 residents murdered in the onslaught and another 11 taken hostage.
The terrorists shot and killed Abigail’s mother Smadar in front of her and her siblings, 6-year-old Amalia and 10-year-old Michael. They then killed the children’s father Roee as he shielded Abigail with his body while seeking to bring the children to safety.
Amalia and Michael ran back to their house, locked themselves inside a closet and hid for 14 hours, just feet away from their mother’s lifeless body, until they were rescued by special forces. They believed Abigail had died along with their father.
She survived. Crawling out from under her father’s body, the 3-year-old ran to the home of neighbor Hagar Brodutch, where she sheltered in the safe room with the mother and her three children. Hagar’s husband, Avichai, a member of the kibbutz security team, was injured while attempting to retrieve weapons to stave off the terrorists and was eventually evacuated to a hospital.
At around 11 a.m., 15 terrorists forced open the safe room and took Hagar, Abigail, and the other children hostage. They were transported to Gaza in Hagar’s car. She was sure her husband was dead.
They were initially held in a small room with covered windows in a low-rise apartment of a Gazan family but were moved as Israeli bombs approached. On some days they ate just pita. The bathroom had no running water. Hagar had to bargain for toilet paper, paper, pencils, playing cards and soap. They had to be quiet. They did not get outside news.
Upon their release on November 26, Hagar realized how they had all lost weight and were dirty, with discolored skin.
While Abigail was in Gaza, Hirsh Naftali worked from the US to raise awareness and advocate for her release as well as that of the other hostages. She was tormented about whether calling attention to Abigail’s situation would be helpful or detrimental to her release. But she knew that to be effective she needed “to go to Capitol Hill, knock on doors, and make a compelling case in person to whomever will listen,” she said in the book.
At Abigail’s release, Biden called Hirsh Naftali to tell her that Abigail was once again in Israel and safe. “I then took my first real breath in months,” Hirsh Naftali recalled.
She continues to advocate for the release of the remaining hostages.
“Israel and these families and the nation cannot move forward” if the remaining hostages are not freed, she said. Bringing them home is moral, humanitarian, and Jewish, she said, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has failed” to do that.
Abigail, Michael, and Amalia now live with their aunt and uncle and three cousins, who also survived the Kfar Aza attack and were rescued after 29 hours in their safe room. The family of eight resides north of Tel Aviv, as Kfar Aza remains uninhabitable, said Hirsh Naftali.
Moving back to Kfar Aza or “anywhere else isn’t an option right now,” Hirsh Naftali said. “Nobody’s planning a future. They’re planning how to get through each day.”
In April, Abigail and her new family met Biden at the White House. The president hugged the six children, who gave him drawings to thank him. Abigail called him “Joe Joe,” and playfully patted him on the head. She also gave a series of “leaping high-fives” to a line of US officials who came to meet her and who had worked to bring her home, Hirsh Naftali wrote.
Hirsh Naftali will be in Israel on October 7 to mark the one-year anniversary of the tragedy. The family will visit the graves of Roee and Smadar.
Abigail and her siblings talk about their parents, Hirsh Naftali said, and “know exactly what happened that morning.” Abigail also knows she was in Gaza. “She will tell things when she is ready,” Hirsh Naftali said.
What Abigail’s aunt and uncle are doing, she said, is making sure that each day is a “good day” and that the children feel loved, warm, and safe.
Abigail, Michael, and Amalia in a way represent the shared story of Israel after October 7, Hirsch Naftali wrote in the book. “They are wounded but not defeated. They carry scars no one else will be able to see, but they will take their lives back.”
