Released hostage Rom Braslavski arrives at Sheba hospital, October 13, 2025. (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)
For two years, Rom was kept in complete isolation, frequently moved between tunnels and sometimes imprisoned alongside the bodies of dead hostages.
For the first time in two years, 21-year-old Rom Braslavsky can look at the open sky — and that’s all he wants to do.
When the young Israeli was rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza, weighing just 93 pounds, his first words to his IDF liaison were simply: “The sky.”
After two years underground, starved and tortured, seeing daylight again was almost too much to take in.
Braslavsky was only 19 years old on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova music festival.
He worked as a security guard at the event and didn’t run when the attack began — instead, he stayed to rescue others, helping people escape while under fire.
He was ultimately captured by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and dragged into Gaza.
For two years, Rom was kept in complete isolation, frequently moved between tunnels, and sometimes imprisoned alongside the bodies of dead hostages.
His captors beat him, starved him, and tried to force him to convert to Islam.
They subjected him to constant psychological torment, telling him that his family had forgotten him and that Israel had been destroyed after a supposed “war with Iran.”
His family says that since his release, Rom has struggled to re-adjust:
“Rom still has a hard time meeting people. He’s not ready to be with his phone yet — all he wants to do is look at the sky,” they said.
The image of Rom staring upward, blinking in disbelief at the sun, has moved millions.
Across social media, people from around the world have begun posting photos of their skies — from Tel Aviv to New York to Tokyo — tagging messages of hope and solidarity for him.
Once a symbol of youthful courage on that tragic day, Rom Braslavsky has now become a symbol of endurance, innocence, and the unbreakable human spirit.
After two years in the darkness of Gaza’s tunnels, all he wants is to look at the light.
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