In a powerful testimony at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Washington, DC on Sunday night, former captive Avinatan Or recounted his harrowing ordeal in Gaza, including his self‑led tunnel escape and subsequent days of beatings by his captors.

“I told myself, ‘You will not let others decide your destiny,’ and I tried to escape,” Or said, describing how his engineering background helped him sketch an exit plan, fashion a makeshift light from broken cables, and dig through sandbags toward freedom.

A path to freedom—then recapture

Or’s escape effort spanned weeks. He described the surreal moment when he hit the root of a tree beneath the surface and stood under the stars for the first time in years. But the moment of hope was short‑lived. His captors located him. “They found me,” he said. “I was sure I will die there.”

For days following his recapture, Or was tied to a chair and endured sustained beatings. Yet during his captivity he found strength in three phrases painted beside his bed: “This too shall pass,” “Patience” and “Let it be.” He explained, “Everything in my life—my childhood, my parents, my education, my army service, working in construction, studying engineering—all of it made me who I am. And who I am is what kept me alive.”

Not a hero—but having a mission

Despite the dramatic nature of his escape, Or emphasized that he does not consider himself a hero. “I didn’t choose to be a hostage,” he said. “The heroes are the soldiers, the ones who choose to fight for others.” He thanked Israeli forces for orchestrating his release—alongside fellow former captives Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa‑Dalal on October 13, 2024, after 738 days in captivity—and said his next mission is supporting the forces that saved him.

Also present at the event was his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was abducted with Or during the Supernova Music Festival attack on October 7, 2023. Her dramatic separation from Or during the attack was captured on video and has become one of the most haunting images from that day. Argamani was rescued earlier—on June 8, 2024—during the IDF’s “Operation Arnon,” named after Commander Arnon Zamora, who was killed in the raid.

Sharing the war’s human costs

The testimony delivered in Washington resonated not only as a personal narrative of survival but as a stark reminder of the ongoing human costs of the war in Gaza. The military operations that ultimately led to Or’s freedom underscore the broader strategic and humanitarian challenge facing Israel—and the continuing need to understand the war’s long‑term effects on soldiers, civilians, and the nation’s psyche.

Or’s words—the engineering calculations, the tunnel escape, the physical and emotional trauma—offer both a raw account of captivity and a message of resilience. They also reinforce the idea that surviving war often depends less on luck than on the sum of one’s preparation, identity, and refusal to surrender one’s own story.

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