After 738 days in Gaza, Eitan Horn released from Hamas captivity

After 738 days in captivity, Eitan Horn was released on October 13, 2025, as part of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza. This is the story of Elkana Bohbot’s capture:

Eitan Horn, 37, was abducted from his brother Iair’s Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7, as Hamas terrorists swarmed through the kibbutz, killing or kidnapping one in four of the community’s residents.

Eitan had come from his home in Kfar Saba to visit his older brother, Iair, 45, for the holiday weekend.

The family immigrated from Argentina years ago, and when sirens began sounding, warning of incoming rockets, their father, Itzik, messaged his two sons.

Eitan answered, writing, “Did you forget that in Iair’s kibbutz the missiles always pass overhead?”

That was the last communication received by the Horn family.

When father Itzik Horn heard that terrorists were attacking Kibbutz Nirim, he understood that Nir Oz would be next in line, given its location.

A Nir Oz friend later confirmed that the brothers were together at the time of the Hamas incursion into the kibbutz.

Eitan is an informal educator who has long worked with different youth movements and served as an emissary in Peru.

He and Iair are also very involved uncles, according to their father, Itzik, often taking their nephews to Hapoel Beersheba soccer games.