Ohad Ben-Ami, who was released from Hamas captivity last Saturday along with Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, shared his first video statement Saturday night at the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. "On October 7th, they took me away," he began. "They put me in some kind of sealed container. And life goes on. I had no idea what was happening outside, and our captors, of course, knew this. And just like they evoke terror with weapons, they also use psychological terror." "Essentially, the messages we received from them were basically saying that 'Your government has abandoned you,' 'We can kill you at any moment,' 'If it were up to your government, we should have killed you long ago.' And with these messages, you have to survive, exist, get through another day, and another, and another. "And honestly, even if you didn't believe these messages, you see that as time passes, this is the reality. So these messages must be true. You can quickly lose yourself. And what keeps you above ground is when you suddenly see that the people—your people—are fighting for you." He added, "We see hundreds of thousands. We see it's reached over a million. Wow. It's not just our families. There are people in our nation who care about us, who want us to return, who understand this could have happened to them too. And I matter to someone. And someone wants to bring me back." Related articles: 'It's harder than burying a child' 'Division in the nation gives strength to our enemies' 'No one forgets the hostages for even a moment' Hostage families file suit against Columbia protesters "This is what sustained us. This is what lifted us up. This is what will lift us up going forward. This is what will sustain us going forward. And if there's a day that could be symbolic like Day 500, that will cause many, or the whole country to stand up, to go outside, to raise signs, to vote with their feet and say that they want everyone to return. "Really, you have no idea what strength this will give to everyone still left behind, waiting for their turn to come home. There's no time. The feelings day by day, you see how people slowly change and how time affects them. And even people who had faith and hope suddenly start to lose it, and you need to keep lifting them up, lifting them up and lifting them up. "And this was our unity. We are the Jewish people. We are a strong people. We are a united people, we are unified. We know how to lift each other up. We lifted each other up. I'm not with them now to lift them up. This is hard for me. "My friends, you know that I love you. You also know it was hard for me to leave while you remain there. This was not an easy event for me. Stay strong, the people want you to return. With God's help, you will get out. You will come home in the coming days. Weeks is the maximum. It will be in the coming days, stay strong. Believe in our people. You will come home. Be strong for me, for your families, for the people of Israel. I love you and miss you very, very much."
