Father of Freed Hostage Yosef Chaim Ohana Describes His Son’s Emotional Return Home

Two days after freed hostage Yosef Chaim Ohana returned from rehabilitation to his home in Kiryat Malachi, roughly six weeks after he was released from Gaza, his father Avi spoke about the overwhelming moment his son walked through the door and the long recovery he has been facing since leaving Hamas captivity after 738 days.

Avi said the family is still processing the fact that his son survived. “We had a great miracle. We thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu,” he said. “I want to thank all of Am Yisrael for two years of prayers. It is a great miracle that my son came out alive — it’s above nature. Seven hundred and thirty-eight days in a tunnel, in terrible suffering, and to stay alive. And thanks to our soldiers, who literally risked their lives so my son could return. I thank everyone.”

He described the dramatic welcome in their small southern city. According to him, hundreds waited for Yosef Chaim’s arrival. “It was insane. Kiryat Malachi is a small, very close city. People waited for him — it was like oxygen for the whole city. There was huge joy. He was in shock. Tears came down his eyes. He himself didn’t believe he would ever see his home again.”

Avi said the first moments inside were overwhelming. His son entered his father’s home and then his mother’s, and stood frozen. “He imagined this moment, and it gave him the strength to survive,” he said. “He told me there were moments when you no longer care if you live or die from so much suffering and torture. But what gave him the strength to survive was imagining home, imagining his mother and father, his siblings, his city.”

Since returning, Yosef Chaim has been surrounded by friends from “all parts of his life,” Avi said, from work, from Nova, from the army, and from school. “He’s with friends all day… I told him, ‘Yosef Chaim, I can’t even talk to you, maybe I need to book an appointment.’ But I know it’s good for him. He missed this.”

Part of the rehabilitation included a three-week trip to the United States. “He told me, ‘Dad, it’s from zero to a hundred,’ and I told him it’s from minus a thousand to plus a thousand. He needed the quiet and the trip. It healed him.”

Avi shared one chilling story from his son’s captivity: Hamas terrorists left metal handcuffs on him for two days after losing the key, causing severe pain. “Those lowlifes lost the key to the handcuffs, so they stayed on his hands for two days. His palm swelled, the blood flow stopped, terrible pain. They didn’t know how to open the handcuffs. One terrorist came to him, called him Yusuf, and said to him: “Listen, we have no choice, we have to remove the handcuffs.” They came to him with a utility knife and intended to remove his hand with it. He simply told me: ‘Dad, I closed my eyes and begged the Creator of the world not to let them do it, that I should die.’ According to him, the terrorist was angry and told him he would start with the hairs — after all, he had a ponytail — and with cruelty he cut off all the hairs with the knife, down to the scalp. He prayed in his thoughts that they wouldn’t remove his hand, and then another terrorist came with keys, started playing with it, and managed to open them.’”

Yosef Chaim’s family has opened a crowdfunding campaign to help support his rehabilitation and living needs, as his family says he needs a stable place of his own as part of rebuilding his life.