Taken captive: Tsahi Idan, terrorists promised daughter his safe return
The 49-year-old husband and father of three held the safe room door against the terrorists in their Nahal Oz home as Hamas attacked on October 7, killing his oldest daughter
Tsahi Idan, 49, was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, after his oldest daughter, Maayan, 18, was shot and killed through the safe room door.
The family of five had run into their safe room early in the morning of October 7, as sirens sounded and an “endless round of rockets” kept falling, said Gali Idan, Tsahi’s wife, in a Channel 13 interview.
The family began hearing terrorists in their house, and Tsahi held the safe room door shut, with help from Maayan.
The terrorists shouted, “Open the door” in English, and then a shot rang out, and Gali realized that Maayan had been shot and killed, falling into Tsahi’s arms.
In an emotional interview with newscaster Lucy Aharish on Channel 13, Gali and her younger daughter, Yael, recounted the traumatic events of that day.
At the time, Gali didn’t realize that the terrorists were filming the entire attack on their family.
When Maayan was shot, Tsahi let the door fall open, and he was broken, unable to function, described Gali.
Her two younger children were screaming and crying and somehow, she held it together.
“I was on automatic,” Gali told Aharish. “I had to protect my other two children and Tsahi was broken.”
In the Hamas video, the two younger children ask if the terrorists are killing them, and throughout, said Gali, “Tsahi doesn’t say a word.”
“He’s very cool, he’s our support column, but this wasn’t him, it was a shadow of his usual self,” she said.
The terrorists told the family to leave the room. At a later point, they took Tsahi. His younger daughter, Yael, asked the terrorists not to take him and kill him.
“They turned around and said, ‘He’ll be back, he’ll be back,'” said Gali. “They promised Yael that he would return.”
