According to a report by Times of Israel, on October 17, 2025, throughout his two-year ordeal in Gaza captivity, freed hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana engaged in an elaborate deception that may have saved his life—successfully concealing from his Hamas captors that he was a commander in the IDF’s elite Givati Brigade.
While in captivity, he managed to hide from his captors that he was a commander in the IDF’s Givati Brigade, Channel 12 says, by telling them that he’d had to persuade the army to recruit him, and that he was assigned to a very junior position before being booted shortly after.
The 25-year-old’s survival strategy involved more than just hiding his military credentials.
Ohana, who was abducted from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, repeatedly had to employ logical arguments and newly acquired Arabic language skills to convince his guards not to execute him, according to fresh details published by Channel 12 based on conversations with his parents following his Monday release.
“I had to convince my captors through logical reasoning why it was not worth it for them to kill me,” Ohana revealed to his relatives upon returning home. “I found myself seconds from having a bullet in my head multiple times.”
His father, Rabbi Avi Ohana, explained that his son mastered Arabic during his imprisonment and would consistently remind his captors of his greater worth alive.
Despite these rational appeals, at times one of the terrorists holding Ohana captive would respond that while he may have been right, killing him would give him “more satisfaction.”
Beyond the constant execution threats and the pressure of maintaining his false identity, Ohana disclosed to his relatives that he endured brutal physical mistreatment and intense psychological torment throughout his detention.Continue, Full, Reading>>>>
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