In video message, captivity survivor Ohad Ben Ami says it was hard to keep hope, ‘time is running out’

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum plays a video message from freed captive Ohad Ben Ami in front of hundreds gathered at the weekly rally on Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, calling for the release of the remaining abductees.

Ben Ami, who returned emaciated from Gaza last week, says time is running out to bring the remaining hostages home.

“You see how people slowly change and how time takes its toll, and even people who had hope and faith suddenly start to lose that, and you constantly need to lift them,” he says.

Freed captive Ohad Ben Ami speaks in a video message published February 15, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

On October 7, 2023, “I was plucked out and stuck in some sealed bottle, and life went on,” he says. “I had no idea what was going on outside.”

Ben Ami says his captors leveraged his ignorance of the news to employ “psychological terrorism,” telling him and other hostages that they had been abandoned by the government.

“You have to survive with these messages, one day after another,” he says. “Even if you didn’t believe these messages, as time goes on, you see that’s the reality… you can very quickly start to lose it.”

“What keeps you going is that suddenly you see the nation fighting for you,” he tells Hostages Square. “We see hundreds of thousands, we see it reaching over a million — wow. You have no idea, no idea how much power that gives to those left behind.”

“We’re the Jewish people,” he says. “We’re a strong people, a unified people… we know how to lift each other.”

Addressing the captives still in Gaza, he says it was difficult for him to leave them behind.

“Be strong, the people want you back,” he says. “With God’s help, you’ll get out, you’ll get home in the coming days.”