Freed hostage Yosef Haim Ohana’s father said family kept son alive during Hamas torture

“Only one thing—family. The thought of dad, mom, brothers, friends. That’s what gave him strength.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Avi Ohana, the father of freed hostage Yosef Haim Ohana, described the faith that carried his family through the two years his son was held captive in Gaza.

Speaking with the Kan Moreshet radio channel, he said the experience of reunion felt miraculous after so much pain.

“I am walking on cloud nine, in the sky,” he said, recalling the sleepless nights that had once come from anguish and now from overwhelming happiness.

“This miracle is something beyond nature. As the days go by, I realize how much greater it is. The verse from Psalms is being fulfilled: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.’”

Ohana explained that after the latest ceasefire deal was reached, his son and several other hostages were moved into what he called a “deep, narrow pit” beneath the ground, where the air was so thin that “a person could die just from that alone.”

He said his son described standing shoulder to shoulder with six others, unable to sit or move for hours at a time. “It was literally, ‘And Joseph was brought down to Egypt’—Joseph in the pit,” Ohana said.

His son’s survival, he continued, came from inner strength and constant thoughts of home. “Only one thing—family,” Ohana said. “The thought of Dad, Mom, brothers, friends. That’s what gave him strength.”

At one point during captivity, Hamas guards gave the hostages a small radio tuned to Quranic broadcasts.

Yosef Haim managed to catch the frequency of IDF Radio and suddenly heard his father’s voice. “He said to himself, ‘My father is alive, he is waiting for me,’ and it gave him new life,” Ohana said.

Throughout his son’s imprisonment, Ohana’s faith was his therapy. “I didn’t see a psychologist or psychiatrist,” he explained.

“My psychologist was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. When it was hard, I went to the Western Wall, to the graves of the righteous, and cried out to God from the depths of my heart.”

He remembered his reaction on October 7, when he learned Yosef Haim had been captured: “Master of the Universe, thank God he is alive and not killed,” he said, recalling footage showing terrorists pointing weapons at his son before sparing his life.

For Ohana, the release was not just personal but collective. “It is a miracle for the entire Jewish people,” he said.

“Every Jew who prayed, every tear that was shed—all are part of this salvation. We saw the hand of God.”

“Even when it seems that everything is lost—nothing is lost,” he said. “If Joseph lived and returned from the pit, the people of Israel will also return. We will all be redeemed.”