Ohad Ben Ami, taken captive by Hamas from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, marked his 56th birthday on Tuesday – his second in captivity.
“It’s a situation we could not have imagined even in our darkest nightmares, and here it is happening,” said his brother, Kobi.
“This is an absurd reality,” he said, adding that marking his brother’s second birthday as a hostage has left him feeling that he might be dreaming and waiting for someone to wake him up.
The family is used to celebrating birthdays together with food and laughter, he said.
“Any reason for a party with food and a good family meeting – we never miss it. Especially not Ohad, who loves to host.”
Kobi also said his brother didn’t like getting gifts on his birthday.
“He gets angry when you buy him [presents]. He’s the most modest man in the world. He knows how to give to everyone with the most generous hand, but when it comes to him, he gets mad.”
Show up for the hostages
This year, they chose to mark Ohad’s birthday with a bike ride and a ceremony, Kobi said, and around 200 people joined the family as they rode from the Tel Aviv Port to Charles Clore Park, Kibbutz Be'eri said.
Asked what he would want Ohad to know if he could send him a message, Kobi said, first of all, he would like to offer him huge congratulations for his birthday, adding that he would want to tell Ohad that “we love him very, very much.”
“I would want to tell him that his daughters are okay, that [his wife] Raz is okay, and that we are all okay because he doesn’t know anything,” said Kobi, adding that he would want to make sure Ohad knows he is not forgotten and that his family is doing all they can to help him.
Kobi added that Ohad should “continue to be strong so that we can hug him and treat him, to make it up to him for all the terrible suffering that he has been going through.
“In no other Western country in the world is there a situation where for 445 days there is a child in captivity, a baby, women going through rape and sexual abuse, and men being abused. It is simply a situation that is impossible to grasp,” Kobi said in a call to leaders to bring the hostages home.
“They must be brought back,” he added, saying it is the moral obligation of the prime minister to bring back hostages taken from their homes.
“Until that happens, let every citizen in Israel know that if he is taken captive from his home in a tank top and underwear [as Ohad was], this will be his fate.”
Addressing his fellow citizens, Kobi said they need to stand by his family.
“We need them with us. They should continue to support us and come to every possible rally and to every possible protest.”
This will enable them to “show my brother when he comes back how much the nation loved him and supported him and that we showed up [for him].”