Ohad Ben Ami's daughter: I didn't recognize him at first, but he's come back alive; he survived!

Ella Ben Ami, who phoned Channel 12 news on the morning of October 7, 2023, to tell Israel that she had seen a photograph of her father Ohad abducted to Gaza — and was unaware at the time that her mother had also been abducted — tells the same TV station of her relief and joy that her father has been released. (Her mother Raz was freed in November 2023.)

“I barely recognized him,” she says of her father Ohad. “It took me a second to realize that it was Dad.”

Hamas gunmen surround Ohad Ben Ami on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

But, she adds, “I’m sure we’ll get past that quickly. I simply want to hug him.

“He’s come back on his own two feet. He’s come back alive. He’s waved. He’s strong. He survived it!” she exults.