Alon Ohel was taken from the death shelter after fleeing the Nova Music Festival. Now, after two years in Hamas captivity, he is finally returning home.
After more than two years in Hamas captivity, 24-year-old Alon Ohel is expected to finally return home to Lavon in northern Israel. The German-Serbian-Israeli national was abducted from a shelter on October 7, 2023, after fleeing the Nova Music Festival.
Concerns for Alon rose after Hamas released propaganda videos in September, showing he was in poor health. Released hostages have also testified that he has lost vision in one of his eyes and has suffered from shrapnel wounds inflicted on him the day of his abduction.
Ronen Ohel recounted to Walla in February that hostages released in the last deal attested to his brother’s ill-treatment.
Alon,Ronen was told, was held shackled in Hamas’s underground tunnels from November until at least February. Explaining the difficult conditions his brother was subjected to, Ronen said that Alon was severely malnourished and was being fed only a single piece of pita bread a day.
A Hamas propaganda video was released in September, which featured Alon and fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal. Captioned with the phrase “time is running out,” the video showed the pair visibly malnourished.
THE SILENT piano that awaits to be played by gifted pianist and hostage Alon Ohel. (credit: Yonatan Verstandig)
Alon’s family said that the video, which they have requested not be released, left them “shaking and in pain.”
Alon was briefly held with former hostages Eli Sharabi, who described Alon in his newly-released book as his “best friend for 14 months,” Or Levy, and Eliyah Cohen. The three men were released in the past deal.
The family of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel hold a press conference at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on April 28, 2025. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)
“The fact that I’m here and he’s not is just luck. I’m not at peace with it,” said Or, describing the guilt he felt at being made to leave Alon behind. “When they told us we were going home, they told Alon he had a date, too. I hugged him for the last time and said, ‘Come on, we’ll see you soon,’ and it didn’t happen.”
“Eight months after my return, it still hurts,” he said, speaking on the collapsed rounds of negotiations which hounded his own release. “They reached the well, were being fed properly, and were waiting to be on the next list — and then everything collapsed. They were left in the pit to drown.”
Smuggling a card out of captivity
While in captivity, Alon was said to have maintained his spirits by tapping his fingers as if playing piano. The Serbian Times also reported that he successfully smuggled out a birthday card to his sister earlier this year, entrusting the card to hostages released in a previous deal.
Alon will be one of many hostages to discover a new citizenship upon his release, according to Jewish News. Alon’s grandmother Tzipi Ohel, who was born in Berlin and traveled to Israel by boat in 1949 after surviving the Holocaust, left him eligible for German citizenship, which was granted to him in his absence.
Before his abduction, only weeks after returning from traveling around Asia, Alon was set to begin studying music, according to Barrons. His brother said he expected that the first thing Alon will do after his return is play piano.”
His family, like many of those taken, have spent the past two years campaigning officials to make a deal for his release.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, one of many international officials following Alon’s captivity told the Jerusalem Post last week, “We are deeply relieved by the news that our citizen, Alon Ohel, might be among those to be released in the first phase of this arrangement…Serbia has, from the very beginning, followed his situation with the utmost concern and has worked quietly through diplomatic channels to support efforts leading to his safe return.”
Alex Winston contributed to this report.
