‘Don’t kill me, I’m your human shield:’ Ex-hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana repeatedly convinced captors not to shoot him

Ex-hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana had to persuade his captors not to kill him multiple times, Channel 12 reports, publishing new details from his captivity as shared by his parents.

“I had to convince my captors through logical reasoning why it was not worth it for them to kill me,” he shared with his family after his return on Monday. “I found myself seconds from having a bullet in my head multiple times.”

According to his father, Rabbi Avi Ohana, his son learned Arabic while he was in Gaza, and he would tell his captors that he was more valuable to them alive.

“Wait a second — before you shoot, what will you get out of it?” Yosef-Haim would ask them, the rabbi explains in an interview with Channel 12. “The State of Israel will give you a lot for me [alive]; you will get a lot; I am your human shield.”

At times, one of the terrorists holding Ohana captive would respond that while he may have been right, killing him would give him “more satisfaction.”

Ohana, 25, was taken captive at the Nova festival on October 7, 2023.

While in captivity, he managed to hide from his captors that he was a commander in the IDF’s Givati Brigade, Channel 12 says, by telling them that he’d had to persuade the army to recruit him, and that he was assigned to a very junior position before being booted shortly after.

He also shared with his family that he experienced severe physical and psychological abuse.