Hostage’s father shares son’s harrowing ordeal

“We had assessments that this was the situation,” Malki told Ynet on Monday. “But we didn’t know for sure. When they told us, it hurt. The hardest part was knowing he was completely alone.”

During the first hostage release deal, Omer was unaware that his fellow captive, Itay Regev—the younger brother of his close friend, Maya—had been freed. “It surprised them both,” Malki said. “Itay didn’t know he was being released. They were just told they were being separated. After two days, Omer realized Itay had likely been freed.”

Following Regev’s departure, Hamas terrorists transferred Omer to a deeper and longer tunnel, where he was confined to a cramped, underground cell. “It was so small he couldn’t even stand or stretch his arms,” Malki said. “No electricity, complete darkness, except for a small flashlight whose batteries would sometimes die, leaving him in total blackness.”

At first, his captors provided flatbread, but eventually, he received only biscuits. “The water was salty, undrinkable,” Malki recounted. “It was incredibly hard. In his last days there, he struggled both physically and mentally to hold on.”

Omer remained in that tunnel until he was freed as part of the hostage deal. His older sister, Dana, explained that forced labor helped him endure captivity. “They made him cook, clean after them, carry things. That kept him occupied.”

His captors also gave him books—some left behind by Israeli soldiers—including The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which he read five times. “They also gave him a book on the weekly Torah portions and even a Sudoku puzzle he couldn’t finish because he had no Internet to check the answers,” Malki said.

Despite the psychological torment, Omer relied on his social skills. “He has this personal charm, a way of connecting with people,” Malki explained. “He quickly understood that to survive, he needed to build rapport with them. There was psychological terror, and when new guards arrived, they were harsher. But most of the time, he was with the same captors, and he managed to win them over.”

While Omer struggled to survive, his family waged a relentless campaign for his release, traveling the world to speak on his behalf. Yet, inside the tunnels, Hamas manipulated what he saw.

“They had a TV, and he watched Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya,” Malki said. “But those channels only showed the protests at the Prime Minister’s Office, not the ones in Hostage Square, where we were. His captors used that against him, telling him, ‘Look, even your parents aren’t looking for you.’”

Dana added: “He didn’t believe them, but it still hurt. He desperately wanted to see us somewhere.”

Hamas did allow Omer to see social media posts, including an Instagram video of his family celebrating his birthday. He also saw a Ynet interview with his parents from October 2023. “His captors showed him the picture and said, ‘Your parents look old,’” Malki said. “We looked so gray and lost.”

Like his family, Omer learned of his impending release from television. When the list of 33 hostages to be freed was published, he saw his name. “His captors told him it wasn’t true, but he kept seeing hostages being released and realized it was happening,” Malki said.

Three days before his release, Hamas terrorists blindfolded Omer and put him in a vehicle. “Suddenly, he heard Arabic with an Israeli accent,” Dana said. “He was in shock. He realized there was another Israeli next to him—one of ours.”

That man was Eliyah Cohen, another hostage. “At first, Omer couldn’t speak, but after a few hours, they became like brothers,” Malki said. “Every day there feels like a lifetime, and in those three days, they bonded deeply—Omer, Eliyah, Tal Shoham and Omer Wenkert.”

Back home, his family endured agonizing anticipation. “We packed his clothes—nothing new, so he’d feel at home,” Dana said.

At the reception point at the IDF base in Re’im, his parents, Malki and Sheli, prepared his room with his favorite shoes, hat and handwritten notes reading, “Your favorite clothes” and “We’ve waited so long for this moment.”

After 505 days, the reunion finally arrived. “We walked in and saw him sitting with his face in his hands,” Malki recalled. “We ran to each other and hugged. His first words were, ‘I’m so lucky you’re my parents.’”

Omer later told them that in captivity, he and Regev spoke constantly about their families. “They worried about us, hoping we weren’t suffering,” Dana said. “When I hugged him, he said, ‘I’m glad it was me who was taken. If it were the other way around, I don’t know how I would’ve survived.’”

Another emotional reunion was with Regev and his sister, Maya. “It was a huge moment of closure,” Dana said. “There were tears, laughter, so much emotion. They truly understand each other. Even though they were together for only 50 of Omer’s 500 days, every day in captivity is a lifetime.”

During their time together in Hamas tunnels, Omer and Regev initially coped by pretending they were at their old restaurant jobs, with Omer “serving” Regev imaginary meals. Eventually, hunger overtook their imagination. Still, one craving persisted—Omer dreamed of a hamburger.

“When they returned his notebook, we found doodles—one of a hamburger,” Malki said. “He had dreamed of it for 505 days. When he was flown back in a helicopter, he even wrote it on the whiteboard inside.” That night, dozens of burgers arrived at the hospital, fulfilling that long-held wish.