Hamas Murdered Her Father and Sister, Then Dragged Her Into Captivity

Today marks two years of the ‘Swords of Iron’ war. On October 7th, 2023, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists infiltrated Israel through air, land, and sea, killing over 1,200 and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. 

Agam Goldstein-Almog was among these hostages who was abducted from her home that fatal morning. Today, she returns to her still destroyed home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, to tell you her testimony from October 7th. To tell you why after two years, we are still operating for the return of our hostages and to dismantle Hamas. 

Agam was only seventeen when she was taken hostage. Sirens sounded at 6:29 A.M., and she with her parents and three siblings entered the safe room in their home, where they stayed for hours to follow. “We began to understand that something different was happening outside.” They heard from friends that terrorists had infiltrated neighboring Kibbutzim (communities). 

“Then I realized they were in my home.” 

Bathroom door the terrorists shot through to enter Agam’s home

Her father, previously injured in a bicycle accident, immediately got up and tried to block the entrance to the safe room, “but he was too weak to stop them.” An innocent man who posed no threat, shot and murdered, before his own children's eyes. 

Bloodstained toys in the bomb shelter where Agam’s father was murdered

Still shaking from witnessing their fathers death, the family was ordered to get up and leave the safe room. As they were exiting, Agam's older sister, overwhelmed from the tragedy, fainted. Agam's mother ran to get water to help her, while Agam took her little brothers out of the room following the terrorists’ command. On returning to aid her, their mother found her eldest daughter strewn across the ground, shot in the face. “They didn't even give her a chance to fight back.” 

L to R: Agam, her father, Nadav, and her sister, Yam

In a matter of minutes, Agam lost her father and sister, both harmless, killed ruthlessly, in states where they didn’t pose a threat and couldn't have even attempted to defend themselves. 

Agam and her remaining family members, her two brothers and her mother, were then taken from their home, and driven into Gaza by the terrorists, who stole Agam's mother’s car to take them. “We were terrified. Civilians in Gaza were banging on the windows. I could see in their eyes that they wanted to kill us.” 

They arrived at a normal, civilian-looking home. But inside, was a shaft that led down into one of Hamas’ expansive network of terror tunnels. “My brothers were scared to go in, but I told them it would be okay, and they could go in after me.” 

Agam and her two younger brothers in captivity, in a Hamas tunnel

“The tunnel was low, cramped, with no air to breathe and no light of day.” After a while, they were moved to an apartment, where they were held for the following five weeks. They were held by a school teacher, who was also a Hamas terrorist. 

During transfers, Agam recalls the terrorists were always dressed in civilian clothing, and dressed her and her family in local civilian clothing, trying to strip them entirely of their Israeli identity. They brought them out into the public, hid them among civilian structures, from schools, to mosques, and markets. “One day, they took us to a supermarket, and hid us right there in the middle of civilian life, on the shelves, for hours and hours.”

Her brothers weren't allowed to play together. “When they tried to draw, the terrorists took their drawings, ripped them up, and threw them away.” From that point, they were banned from speaking to one another. 

At times they required medical attention, terrorists brought in a man who claimed to be a doctor, but wasn't. “He pretended to examine me, and told me there was nothing wrong with me and I'd be released soon, but only if I stayed quiet. But the release never came.”

Agam recalls how overwhelmed she felt, almost every second. “I wanted to mourn, I wanted to go to a place where I could cry, I wanted to know what happened, who else was murdered and kidnapped. I wanted to control my doubt.” 

Agam, with immense bravery, would challenge her captors. “I would ask them, tell me, where in the Quran does it say it's allowed to murder innocent people and kidnap men, women, and children?”

Every time, they stayed silent. Because how can one justify such a massacre? 

Agam was taken throughout Gaza, seeing how Hamas embedded itself amongst civilians. In mosques, she witnessed people praying in the morning, and rockets launching from it that same evening, those people cheering as they watched them cross into Israel. 

On the November 26th, 2023, after 51 days in captivity, Agam along with her family was released in the third stage of the first hostage deal made between Hamas and Israel. “It was one of my scariest days in Gaza.” They were moved from car to car surrounded by hundreds of people watching and shouting, “I was worried we were going to be lynched.” 

More than happy or relieved, Agam was afraid. Afraid to face the mourning that awaited her outside, to relive the death of her father and sister all over again. “We didn't believe it was happening until it really happened, and we saw IDF soldiers standing to meet us.”

Agam and her younger brothers on the rescue flight on the way back to Israel

The hardest part of her leaving was leaving behind the other girls she was in captivity with. “Girls my age, just as deserving as me. It was unbelievable that I came back and they stayed.”

Agam’s return to Israel greeted by loved ones

Today, Agam says the readjustment is still challenging. “My life may not have ended, but it will never be the same.” She speaks of her first return to Kfar Aza with her mother, seeing her destroyed home before her eyes. “This is my home, but it's the hardest place for me to be for now.” A once beautiful house, filled with memories, is left empty and incomplete, along with Agam's family. 

Her father and sister’s graves were brought back to Kibbutz Kfar Aza just over two weeks ago, where they made a second funeral, as the family missed the first while they were held captive in Gaza. 

“It’s important to remind the world what happened today, two years ago. No one can understand my pain, and the world is forgetting. Even today, when I see these anti-semitic protests around the world, I feel alone in the face of terror.” 

“Remember, it's not normal to wake up to terrorists grabbing you while you're still in pajamas, for them to murder us and kidnap us.” The world's mission is not only to remember what happened on October 7th, but stand with these families who suffered at the hands of Hamas.