Avinatan Or, the partner of rescued hostage Noa Argamani, has spent over two years in Hamas captivity after invading terrorists kidnapped him from the Nova Music Festival in Re’im.
The 32-year-old second-born of seven brothers was planning to move in with his girlfriend before terrorists snatched him from Argamani, who was dragged away on the back of a quadbike, crying “Don’t kill me!” while reaching for Or.
They had spent hours hiding in a ditch after trying to flee by car when Hamas discovered them. Or had reportedly had the opportunity to escape but did not want to leave behind his girlfriend “at the hands of the monsters,” his mother, Ditza Or told the Jewish Chronicle. “I have thought about what would have happened if he had escaped, but I know he would have never forgiven himself. He wouldn’t have [been] able to live with himself. So, he was very loyal, and I'm proud of him for that.”
Only hours before the attack reached the festival, as missiles and sirens rang, Or was recorded telling Argamani, “I'm so happy that you're not one of those girls who is afraid of a few missiles,” Ditza said.
Or, an electrical engineer for Nvidia and a graduate of Ben-Gurion University, was seen alive by one of the released hostages secured in the last Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Channel 12 reported. His family have received several signs of life throughout his captivity.
Learning of Avinatan Or's abduction
Moshe Or, Or’s brother, described him to The Media Line as a passionate family man and excellent cook.
When news of Hamas’s invasion reached Moshe, he told reporters that he knew that something had happened to Or, and so he searched through social media for any signs of his brother. He eventually found the footage of Or being snatched away, which is how he learned of his brother’s fate.
Ditza Or, Or’s British-Israeli mother, had been taking a nap and observing Shabbat in Jerusalem, not looking at her phone, had known of the attack but did not realize that Or had been at the festival in the South, according to the Jewish Chronicle. She was eventually roused from her nap by two of her children who informed her of the news, according to the JC. As her children knocked, she realized that they were bringing with them bad news and so refused to open the door.
“I decided that I will not let this enter my world. I knew that something very horrible was on the other side of the door, and I decided that I wasn’t going to open the door to allow that into my life,” she said, explaining her children eventually entered accompanied by a psychologist.
“There are no words that can explain what a mother feels, what I felt at that moment. It's like lightning striking, but from all directions at once. Then all the light inside of you disappears, and the darkness means no thoughts, no emotions, no air, nothing. Just nothing,” she told the JC.
She did not watch the footage of Or’s kidnapping for two weeks and told the JC she still found it too painful to watch.
“Until now, I still prefer not to watch it again because it's just so, so terrible and painful to know that Avinatan is in the hands of the worst and most cruel beast in the world, in the hands of the Hamas,” she explained.
Or's family and girlfriend have been vocal advocates for a hostage deal to see him and the other captives returned home.
Argamani, after being named in TIME Magazine's annual 100 most influential people, said she asked about his welfare throughout her time in captivity but did not receive any answers.
"I did not know if he was alive, and I did not want to know the answer, because it would have been too much for me. Until my boyfriend and all the remaining hostages are home, I will not heal. I will keep fighting as much as I can to bring everyone home," she said.