A pair of teenage siblings were released from Hamas captivity after 50 days over the weekend – only to have their joy “shattered” when they learned their mother had been killed by the terror group.
Noam Or, 17, and his 13-year-old sister Alma stayed strong during their captivity by thinking about the day they would reunite with their mother, Yonat, whom they were separated from when Hamas stormed their home at Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, their uncle, Ahal Besorai, told CNN.
“This dream had been shattered by the fact that [Yonat] was murdered,” Besorai told the outlet.
“My sister, their mom, was murdered on October 7. The children did not know that. We thought they were together when they were kidnapped, but they were separated from the outset,” he explained.
Noam and Alma were released on Saturday as part of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, the Times of Israel reported.
Their father, Dror Or, is believed to still be a captive in the Gaza Strip, the outlet noted.
“When they first crossed the border and reunited with their grandmother and older brother, the first news that they had to confront was the fact that their mom is no longer alive. And that was a terribly emotional and traumatic moment for them,” Besorai told CNN of the siblings’ return.
“There were a lot of tears, a lot of pain,” Besorai added in a separate interview with The Guardian.
The trauma was compounded by the fact that the pair did not even know they were being released until the last moment, the uncle said.
Instead, the terrorists took Noam and Alma from the room they shared with another woman from their kibbutz under the guise of bringing them to the toilets, he explained.
The teens were then handcuffed, blindfolded, and eventually handed over to the Red Cross.
“They tried to hide it from the lady who stayed behind, all on her own – so maybe [that] put some psychological pressure on her,” Besorai said.
“It wasn’t pleasant, to say the least. It was horrible,” he added of what the teens experienced in captivity, though he declined to elaborate.
Noam and Alma shared a journal with the woman in their room, but they were not allowed to bring it with them, he explained.
Despite all that they went through, Besorai said the young siblings expressed empathy for the Gazan civilians who now live in fear of Israel’s retaliatory military operation in the area.
“When they were walking [from the Hamas vehicle] to the Red Cross, and they were holding hands, Noam told his sister Alma, that he just felt very sorry because they were surrounded by Gazans, civilians. He said, ‘I feel so sorry for them because they are staying here, and we are going home,’” Besorai claimed.
He said that the siblings are “sort of okay” physically, though they lost weight during the nearly two months in Gaza.
“When I spoke to them, the first time I spoke to Alma, the 13-year-old niece, she had this enormously big smile and glittering eyes when she came to the Zoom call,” Besorai recalled.
“And this is what stuck in my head: What is behind these glittering eyes? What is deep inside them following this horrible ordeal? It is just very difficult for me to assess.”
Hamas is believed to have killed over 120 Kibbutz Be’eri residents and took several others captive, CNN noted.
The terrorists set multiple homes on fire and destroyed most of the small farming community.
“When Hamas terrorists burned their house in order to force them out of the safe room, the kids jumped from the window and tried to hide in a different place but the terrorists found them and took them to Gaza in a stolen car from the kibbutz,” Besorai told The Guardian of the moment Noam and Alma were abducted.
Their mother Yonat is believed to have been fatally shot while trying to hide from the onslaught.