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On October 7th, 2023, Yotam was scheduled to perform with his band, Persephore, at the Sychworld Metal Festival in Tel Aviv. He had prepared all of his equipment, including his drum kit and cymbals, which were packed in his red Chevrolet Spark.
The evening before, he was at a rehearsal in Tel Aviv and debated whether to stay the night at his bandmate Lidor’s place. In the end, he chose to return to his apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Yotam was excited and ready for the performance. His brother, Tuval, was planning to attend the show for the first time to see Yotam perform. The whole family intended to be there to support him. Everything was set, and Yotam was supposed to leave the kibbutz at 11 AM.
At 6:30 AM on October 7th, Yotam sent his first message:
“Mom, I don’t know about you, but Kfar Aza is being bombarded. Of all days, this place is hot as hell all of a sudden…”
He was alone in the shelter in the young adults’ neighborhood near the fence. His room was located just 20 meters from the kibbutz fence.
For four hours, Yotam updated his parents, family, and friends about his situation.
Initially, he joked about the situation, using his sense of humor to cope. But later, around 10 AM, he said he was scared, that there were terrorists in his house, that he wasn’t sure he would survive, and that he loved his parents.
He filmed several video clips showing what was happening in his neighborhood during those hours, uploading them all to Instagram until 10:49 AM—the time when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and taken to Gaza.
For sixty-five days, Yotam survived Hamas captivity with immense bravery, relying on the power of music, his strong mental resilience, his sense of humor, and his deep love for others.
Yotam was kidnapped alongside Alon Shamriz, a 26-year-old man from the same neighborhood in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Alon was a poet and singer. With them were Samer Al-Tatlaka, a 19-year-old from the town of Hura in the Negev, and Vician Tamtong, a Thai national who had arrived in Israel just five days earlier to work.
Vician was released after 53 days and shared with Yotam’s family the story of how Yotam coped in captivity.
Yotam showed extraordinary strength. He would joke and tap rhythms with his hands on the floor while Alon sang, lifting each other’s spirits.
Yotam even learned Thai from Vician to help ease his burden, embracing and encouraging him. He shared the little food and water they had. Despite his severe back pain, he received some medication to help manage it.
For 42 days, they were kept in a tunnel where the conditions were relatively bearable, but after that, they were moved to another tunnel where the conditions were extremely harsh—almost no food, suffocating air, and little to no room to breathe. Yotam and Alon were beaten twice in the face and were constantly threatened at gunpoint.
On December 10, 2023, a Golani unit encountered the terrorists holding the three captives by chance. In the ensuing battle, the captors were killed, and the three hostages found themselves alone in the dangerous Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza.
In a heroic act of courage and resilience, Yotam, Samer, and Alon managed to survive for five days in the hellish conditions of Shuja’iyya, navigating through the danger to find their way to IDF forces in hopes of rescuing themselves and returning home.
They moved from place to place, leaving signs indicating their location, but the soldiers who saw the signs believed they were decoys planted by the terrorists to lure them into a trap.
On December 15, the courageous trio reached Givati Battalion 17 soldiers. Due to a tragic misidentification, the three were shot and killed by the IDF soldiers.
Yotam, the redhead with blue eyes, was mistaken for a terrorist.
He left this world with bravery and courage, having freed himself from captivity and fought for his life like a brave partisan.
A sensitive soul and a brave heart, a hero in life and death—these are the words engraved on his tombstone.
Yotam was laid to rest at Kibbutz Gvulot, where he was born and raised.
Yotam will forever be remembered as a hero of Israel.
