Hostage Omri Miran’s dad says family hasn’t told his kids yet of his expected return

Dani Miran, father of 48-year-old hostage Omri Miran, says that while he is confident that his son is coming home, Omri’s young daughters have not been informed yet.

“We don’t need to tell them at this stage,” he tells Radio 103FM, referring to Alma, 2, and Roni, 4. “We don’t know what could be derailed and when. [Their mother] also didn’t send the girls to kindergarten, so that the children wouldn’t talk [to them about it], and they wouldn’t hear any rumors.”

On October 7, 2023, Omri and his wife, Lishay Lavi, were in their home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz with their daughters, who at the time were just two years and six months old. The terrorists forced the family to open the door by threatening to shoot a neighbor in the head. Shortly before Omri was taken away, Lishay told him “not to be a hero, adding: “I love you, and I’ll take care of the girls. I’ll wait for you.” When the terrorist loaded the father into his own car to take him to Gaza, Roni tried to run after him.

Since then, Omri’s family, including his father, has become among the most vocal voices in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Omri is set to be released early tomorrow morning, together with the other 19 hostages presumed alive in the first deal of the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas.

Asked whether it is difficult to wait one last day, Miran says it is easy.

“During this year, there have been things that were much harder,” he notes. “I know it’s going to happen, so why make it difficult? They said that by Monday, it will be 72 hours since the agreement was signed, so they are committed, we are committed, and it will happen.”

Miran also expresses his eagerness to hug his son.

“A pregnancy is nine months, and I have been waiting for my son for more than two years, like three pregnancies,” he says.