Remaining hostages ‘don’t have time,’ freed captive’s relative says

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“We didn’t know which Ofer we would get back,” Eyal Kalderon, the cousin of ex-Hamas hostage Ofer Kalderon, told JNS on Monday. “The Ofer that we know is the happy, playful Ofer who jokes a lot and puts a smile on everyone’s face the second he enters a room. We didn’t know if we’d get that Ofer back,” he said.

Kalderon, Yarden Bibas and Keith Siegel were freed on Feb. 1 after 484 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while Siegel was released in Gaza City.

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Eyal was reunited with his cousin four days after his release.

“The moment we saw him, he ran towards me, my dad and my sisters and hugged us,” Eyal told JNS. “We felt that he really was here. Seeing him hug his four children and his brother Nissan made us realize that we completed our mission.”

Kalderon, 54, a dual Israeli-French citizen, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, along with his son Erez, 12, and daughter Sahar, 16. The children were among the 105 captives freed in November 2023 as part of a ceasefire agreement.

“We kept telling the world about his playful personality, but until … people saw it, they didn’t know,” said Eyal. “We feared his humour would vanish, but he’s that strong, and his humour and joy of life helped him survive,” he added.

However, he cautioned that as heartwarming as pictures of the family’s reunion were, his cousin had been through hell.

“He went through a Holocaust,” he told JNS. “He spent 484 days in tunnels and did not see the light of day. He was barefoot for 16 days. He was starved and looked the same as Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy,” he added, referring to the three hostages freed by Hamas on Saturday.

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“He had no connection to the outside world. Terrorists played manipulation tricks on him and tormented him physically and psychologically. Aside from the terrorists, the only living things he saw were rats and spiders,” he continued.

“He didn’t shower for months. They took from him everything related to freedom and self-determination, but he survived and he helped other hostages survive, which I think helped him,” added Eyal.

A long and complex rehabilitation process awaits his cousin, he said. “He cannot have too many people around him all at once, and visitors must be chosen carefully. From hell, he came back as someone who is known to the public; it’s very extreme,” he added.

“We need to protect him and his privacy, but at the same time he’s already said that he is determined to join the struggle to bring back the 76 remaining hostages. He knows what he went through, what everyone went through and what the 76 hostages are still going through,” he said.

“Until he knows they are all saved, we will start the rehabilitation but we cannot finish it. He is determined to join the struggle as soon as he can, and we will be there to support him together with his children, who will be able to start their own rehabilitation now that their father is back,” he added.

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Slowly but surely, the family as a whole, including Ofer’s brother Nissan and his wife, Sharon, Oct. 7 survivors from Kibbutz Sufa, will now be able to start its rehabilitation.

“This is what happens when people return. When they don’t, it’s all death, sadness and destruction. The real rebirth is to see a father hold his four children,” Eyal told JNS. “This is the victory, not the destruction of Hamas,” he added. While that needs to be done “in time,” he continued, “the first priority on everyone’s agenda must be to bring back the 76 hostages. They don’t have time.”

The issue is bigger than any one person, he said. “It’s about the future of Israeli society. We all grew up on the ethos that we do not leave anyone behind. Based on that, we drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, and based on it we raised our children and will continue to do so,” he said.

“We must bring everyone home, otherwise it will be the end of our society as we know it.”

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