- Title: PERSONAL: Mother of 22yo hostage hopes for 'Hanukkah miracle'
- Date: 7th December 2023
- Summary: LAVON, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 7, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF HOSTAGE, IDIT OHEL, SAYING: "But he's in our hearts all the time. Even when I'm talking to you now, I'm thinking that he's here, somehow in some way, in energy ways and, you know, in his heart. He doesn't know it's Hanukkah. I don't think he knows the days, what's day, what's night, I think he doesn
- Embargoed: 21st December 2023 22:07
- Keywords: Alon Ohit Hanukkah dinner family first night hostage
- Location: LAVON AND KARMIEL, ISRAEL
- City: LAVON AND KARMIEL, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA005416807122023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Three generations of the Ohel-Rosen family stand around a kitchen table in northern Israel, rolling and cutting dough to make traditional Hanukkah donuts.
The women are using the same recipe for the traditional sweet as they have done each year to mark the festival of light.
But this year, Hanukkah is a sombre occasion for Idit Ohel's family, as the first day of the eight-day festival also marks two months since her son, 22-year-old Alon Ohel, was taken hostage by Hamas militants into Gaza.
“It's very quiet at home. It's not as festive and it's not as happy as it should be,” Idit told Reuters.
Despite the sadness in marking the holiday without her son, Idit said she found some comfort in thinking of the meaning of Hanukkah.
“Hanukkah is the festival of light, and not just light, of miracles,” Idit said. “I think there will be a miracle, I don't know why. Maybe on the eighth day of Hanukkah. Maybe.”
Alon was among the hostages on October 7 taken from the Nova music festival, about 5 km (3 miles) from the Gaza Strip.
More than 100 hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a seven-day truce between Hamas and Israel that ended on (December 1). Israel says 137 hostages remain in Gaza.
Idit says she hoped for her son as not being alone while captive in Gaza, and that if the 22-year-old felt he was helping others there, it would help him cope.
Israel estimates in total 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage in the attack on its south that triggered a retaliatory onslaught, which the Hamas-run health ministry says has seen more than 16,000 Palestinians killed in the coastal enclave.
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