Ex-Gaza captive says he opposed hostage deal with Hamas

Freed hostage Avinatan Or says he opposed deal with Hamas even when it could have secured his release, fearing it would encourage Hamas to take more hostages.

By World Israel News Staff

Former hostage Avinatan Or revealed in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that he opposed a hostage agreement that could have secured his own freedom, fearing that its terms would encourage future kidnappings or leave Israel strategically defeated.

Speaking publicly in depth about his captivity for the first time, Or said he viewed the debate over a hostage agreement not simply as a question of saving those already being held, but of whether the terms would endanger Israelis in the future.

“The debate was over matters of life and death — whether you save lives now or protect lives in the future,” Or said.

“It was clear to me that if we made a deal then, I would be released, but later, someone else would be sitting in my place.”

Or said that position remained unchanged even when he understood that refusing Hamas’s terms could mean prolonging his own captivity.

“It was clear to me that we shouldn’t make a deal at any cost,” he said. “Israel needed to emerge victorious from this war.”

Or was abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacre together with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani.

Video of their abduction became one of the most widely recognized images of the attack, showing Argamani being carried away on a motorcycle while Or was marched away separately by terrorists.

Argamani was rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024. Or remained in Gaza for another 16 months and was eventually released on October 13, 2025, together with the remaining 19 living Israeli hostages under a ceasefire and prisoner-exchange agreement.

Israel released approximately 2,000 jailed terrorists as part of that agreement.

Or revealed that while in captivity he had been able to watch television and saw demonstrations in Israel demanding an agreement to bring the hostages home.

He said he immediately assumed his parents were not participating.

His mother, Ditza Or, had become one of the most prominent hostage relatives arguing against agreements that would preserve Hamas’s rule or require Israel to abandon its war aims. Other members of the Or family also publicly argued that freeing hostages on Hamas’s terms could incentivize future kidnappings.

When Or finally reunited with his parents after more than two years in captivity, he said their first reaction reflected their awareness of the position they had taken while their own son remained in Gaza.

“They said to me, ‘We hope you’re not angry with us,’” Or recalled.

His response was the opposite.

“I’m not angry with you. I’m proud of you.”

Or said his parents had nevertheless fought relentlessly for his return and rejected the suggestion that opposing a particular kind of agreement meant abandoning him.

“My parents fought for me like crazy,” he said.

During captivity, Or said he even attempted to convince his Hamas guards that holding him indefinitely would ultimately be pointless.

“I told my captor: I’ll stay here for a day, two days, a year, two years, even ten years,” he said. “Eventually, you’ll understand that I’m not worth holding, and that will be the victory.”

Or’s newly disclosed account also revealed that he was not simply waiting for either military rescue or diplomacy.

For months, he secretly prepared an elaborate escape attempt from the underground location where he was being held almost completely alone.

Or said lessons from his military service convinced him that every security system had a vulnerability.

“There’s no such thing as a 100% perfect defense,” he recalled thinking. “There will always be some weak point.”

He eventually discovered air moving through a wall made partly of sandbags — something that suggested an opening or route toward the surface.

Using improvised tools, including wire, an electrical cable and a stolen digging implement, Or secretly excavated his way toward freedom over a period of months while attempting to avoid surveillance by his guards.

He prepared clothing for the escape and even a sack on which he intended to write that he was an Israeli hostage so civilians or Israeli forces would understand who he was if he reached safety.

He also wrote farewell letters to his parents and prepared a will in case the attempt ended with his death.

After more than a year in captivity, Or finally broke through to the surface and saw daylight, civilians and the outside world.

But the escape ultimately failed.

Or realized he needed to retreat, but was discovered before he could return unnoticed. He said his captors subjected him to severe abuse afterward and imposed far harsher conditions for the remainder of his captivity.

He spent roughly another year in Hamas hands.

Or said one of his captors later taunted him as his release approached, telling him to enjoy seeing his family and then leave Israel because Hamas intended to repeat the October 7 massacre.

He recalled pointing to the devastation in Gaza and asking the captor whether he himself would leave for Egypt once the crossings reopened.

The captor answered that he would not because Gaza was his home. Or said he answered simply: “That’s also my home.”

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