When 46-year-old Iair Horn was released from captivity in the last hostage deal, he was forced to leave behind his 38-year-old brother, who has now spent over two years in Hamas captivity.
Both brothers were abducted from Iair’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, by invading terrorists. His car was also stolen by the terrorists and made an appearance during a Hamas propaganda hostage release ceremony, the same ceremony which saw Iair returned to Israel.
After Iair’s release, Hamas released a video in March of the two brothers held together in captivity.
While the video shows the brothers together, their mother Ruth Strom told KAN News that they met in Gaza only once.
“I am very happy to see that my brother is being released, but this is not logical, in any way, to separate families,” Eitan said in the video. “Get everyone out and don’t separate families. Do not destroy all our lives.”
Iair shared in speeches at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square that during their captivity they were deprived of sunlight and fresh air. He has repeatedly insisted that for his recovery, he needs the return of Horn and all the remaining hostages.
Who is Eitan Horn?
Horn made aliyah to Israel from Argentina at age 16, only a few years after Iair made the move.
A resident of Kfar Saba, Horn was only in Israel’s South to visit his brother - a fact that was unknown to their family until after news of Hamas’s attacks broke.
Horn, known by those he worked with as ‘Eitu,’ was worked as an informal educator but had previously worked as an emissary for the Jewish Agency in Peru. Those he worked with previously told The Jerusalem Post of his extensive work with young refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine War, and the extensive impact he had on their lives.
“He is such a unique person, I couldn’t describe it in a couple of sentences. Funny, dedicated, smart and caring,” Viviana Topf, who moved from Peru to Israel, told the Post. “...He guided me during my first year [of the movement] as madricha, and made me question my views in the best possible way.”
Others described his constant willingness to help, cheerful demeanor and sense of humor.
“I couldn’t stop imagining him using his humor to calm the kidnappers, making them laugh and de-escalating any violence with his jokes,” Iara A., a youth led by Horn, said after learning of his abduction.
Iara added that she heard from survivors that Horn had helped many of the children abducted by Hamas during the early months of the war, playing with them and sharing his food rations so they could receive extra nutrition.
When not working with young people and new immigrants, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum shared that Horn likes to perform songs and dances and support the Hapoel Beersheba soccer team.