Alon Ohel, a 24-year-old Israeli musician held hostage by Hamas for 738 days, was released Friday from Rabin Medical Center, where he had been recovering since his return from Gaza. He is now heading to his family home in the Misgav Regional Council in northern Israel.
Before his release from the hospital, a video shared by the hospital showed Ohel with his parents, Kobi and Idit. Ohel appeared with an eye bandage, the result of an injury sustained during the Oct. 7 attack that went untreated while he was in captivity. The wound was recently addressed during his hospitalization.
“Thank you to the people of Israel who supported my family and did everything to bring me home,” Ohel said. “Now I’m returning to my home in the north to begin a process of healing and rebuilding so I can move forward and pursue all my goals. I want to thank you all for standing by my parents—it’s not taken for granted, and it’s amazing.”
His mother, Idit, expressed her gratitude: “Thank you for all the support over the past two years. We are so happy to have our Aloni back and deeply grateful to the people of Israel.” His father, Kobi, added, “We’re starting a new journey—this time a good one, returning to life and to acts that unite us. From here, we see only good ahead.”
Last week, during his stay at the hospital, Ohel’s family shared a photo of him playing piano, a moment that quickly became symbolic of his return to life. “For Alon, the piano isn’t just an instrument—it’s a world of its own,” his family wrote. “Between the touch of the keys and the music, between silence and healing—music plays again, just like the spirit that never broke.”
Ohel, a gifted pianist and musician, was abducted from the Nova music festival in Re’im during the October 7 Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. He was held underground in Gaza for over two years, most of that time in a single tunnel, before being moved about six weeks before his release to another tunnel in central Gaza, where he was used as a human shield.
His fellow hostages, Eli Sharabi and Eliya Cohen, said Ohel kept music alive in his mind even in the harshest conditions. “Alon used to play in his head,” they said. “He heard the notes, even when nothing else could be heard.”