Capt. (res.) Maxim Herkin, 36, who was freed from Hamas captivity last week after 738 days in Gaza, returned to the IDF on Tuesday evening to attend an awards ceremony headed by the commander of the Transport Center. There, he reunited with his comrades in the reserves for the first time since coming home and delivered an emotional speech.
“Thank you so much,” Herkin told the crowd. “Thanks to you, I came home to my civilian family a few days ago, and today, thanks to you, I came home to my family in uniform. I grew up in the Transport Center during my regular service and continued here in the reserves. This unit has always meant so much to me—it’s my military life. We all have civilian lives and lives in uniform, and I have to thank you.”
Maxim Herkin's speech
He continued, “From October 7 until today, you have given up your civilian lives for your military ones because there is a higher purpose. In my eyes, it’s sacred work. You give your time, your strength, and your spirit so that we win, so that you bring us home. There are no words for how grateful I am—because of you, I’m here.”
Herkin was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7. In February, Hamas said it would “take into consideration” Russia’s request to release Herkin, whose mother and daughter hold Russian citizenship, but he remained in captivity. Herkin has a daughter, Monika, who lives in Russia with his former partner. He had visited them shortly before the attack and returned to Israel—only to be abducted four days later.
Emaciated and pale upon his return, Herkin managed to conceal from his captors that he was an IDF officer, having ditched his phone and military ID during the abduction. His family said he was held “in inhuman conditions” but demonstrated “tremendous physical and emotional strength.”
Two days after his release, Herkin told Israel’s Channel 13 News that the protest movement for the hostages gave him strength “in the hell of Hamas captivity.” “Every citizen in Israel—your victory is ours,” he said. “You gave us strength. Every time we managed to see something, we were stunned by the demonstrations and everything happening in the country. That’s the moment you realize you matter, that no one has forgotten you, that people are fighting for you and won’t stop until you come home.”
He said the ongoing protests across Israel since October 7 “made the hostages feel we were important, that we would come back.”
Asked why he apologized to his mother after his return, Herkin said, “In the end, I went to a party. I told her I’d be back in the morning—and it took me two years. I said sorry that it took a bit longer than I thought.”
When asked if he ever believed he would make it home, he replied firmly: “I had an inner feeling. You see what’s happening, and you realize there’s no option not to return. My people wouldn’t let that happen. I knew my mother was a fighter.”