Kobi Ohel, father of Hamas hostage Alon Ohel, at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on February 25, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The father of Alon Ohel, who has been held hostage for nearly 700 days since he was kidnapped from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, pleads for the government and Israelis to fight for his son’s release.
“Alon is in extremely difficult conditions — wounded, surviving and fighting for almost 700 days,” Kobi Ohel tells the Kan public broadcaster.
“I ask our leadership to fight for his life, just as Alon is surviving and fighting for his life,” he says. “Alon is a citizen of this country. He deserves to have his life saved along with the other hostages who need to come back.”
“I call on the citizens of the state – do not be indifferent. Our existence, our mutual guarantee, our understanding that the State of Israel is the safest place for us as its citizens is important, and this is why the state was established,” he says.
“Look at your children, you know where they are. I don’t know where Alon is,” he says. “I know that he is captive in difficult conditions, and is waiting for his life to be saved.”
Freed hostages have told the family that Ohel has had shrapnel stuck in his eye, shoulder, and arm since his abduction, that he is bound in chains, and that he has received almost no food.
Alon Ohel, taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Supernova desert rave (Courtesy)
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel