Ofer Calderon’s brother says he returned from captivity weak but with sense of humor

Nissan Calderon, brother of released hostage Ofer Calderon, says at a press conference in Sheba Medical Center that his brother has returned from captivity “weak and thin,” but still “with his sense of humor.

He delivers the remarks on behalf of the entire family, a number of whom stand alongside him as he speaks.

“Ofer is back!” says Nissan. “He came back after 484 days, weak and thin, but standing on his own legs, smiling, and with his sense of humor.”

“Now we can begin our process of repair, we are complete, one family, united and enveloped in love,” he says. “Ofer returned to us, to Gaya, Rotem, Saar, and Erez [Ofer’s children] who waited fearfully for the moment they would hug him again.”

Calderon, a French-Israeli citizen, was abducted along with two of his children, Erez and Sahar, but was kept in Gaza when they were released during a week-long truce in November 2023.

Nissan takes a moment to mourn those killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught, including Carmela and Noya Dan, extended members of the Calderon family who were killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

He urges the country’s decision-makers to keep pushing for a deal that will bring all the other hostages home as swiftly as possible, without delay. “The time has come to take off the shirts of the struggle for Ofer, and to join the essential, just struggle” [for the rest of the hostages]… We won’t forget for a second those who could have been here, alive, if only the deal had been signed in time — those who were abducted, and did not return alive, and not through our fault.”

Sharon Calderon, Ofer’s sister-in-law, delivers a statement in English, expressing the family’s gratitude to France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the French government, as well as to US President Donald Trump and his team for their role in securing the deal brought Ofer home.