The Free Press has published numerous stories on the ordeals faced by the Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
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Press → publish → October
But the words of Avinatan Or—published here in English for the first time—stand out.
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words → publish → time
Three years ago, Or was abducted from the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists.
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Or → abduct → terrorists
He then spent more than two years as a hostage, most of it alone in a tunnel cell beneath Gaza.
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He → spend → Gaza
Last month, Avinatan published Through the Earth, a harrowing, Hebrew-language memoir about his experience, which has swiftly become a No. 1 bestseller in Israel.
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which → publish → Israel
We are proud to exclusively share two parts of the book—one from 20 days into his captivity, and one from about five months later.
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We → share → captivity
Avinatan’s attention to detail in captivity was extraordinary; his will to live, even more so.
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attention → live → captivity
During his captivity, he literally dug himself out of his tunnel in a daring escape attempt, only to be caught, beaten, and tortured.
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he → dig → attempt
Today, he describes the experiences that led him to try to escape—and the moment that made him realize he had the opportunity to try.
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he → describe → opportunity
Or’s story, translated here from Hebrew, is essential reading as we mark the third anniversary of the October 7 attack.
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we → translate → attack
Read it to understand what Or went through and how, against all odds, he survived years of war and terror in the darkness beneath Gaza.
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he → read → Gaza
From now on, everything, and I mean everything, is a numbers game.
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I → mean → ?
And that means I start to collect every scrap of information that comes my way.
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that → mean → information
I count the rungs of the ladder, count steps, catalog the sounds and key words I manage to catch, measure my paces, memorize turns, feel out the space around me.
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I → count → me
I know that we have climbed nine meters down the ladder into a tunnel with a low ceiling a little under six feet, one that won’t let me stand up straight for the next 24 months.
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me → know → months
I’m here, and I must be the master of my fate.
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I → ’m → fate
One day, Khaled-Hamdan, the Hamas commander in charge of the tunnel where I have been taken captive, comes into the room where we’re all sitting and tells me to follow him.
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we → take → him
We start climbing up out of the tunnel, and my heart and my head start working overtime.
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heart → start → overtime
I have no idea where we’re going or what’s about to happen.
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we → have → what
As we come out of the tunnel I see that it’s nighttime, and the darkness of underground Gaza blends into the darkness of Gaza above.
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darkness → come → Gaza
The tunnel opening lets us out into the storeroom of a house.
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opening → let → house
The voices of women and children come from the second floor.
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voices → come → floor
I think about the monstrous use of a civilian population, and how low a man has to go to use his own children as human shields.
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man → think → shields
The thought is cut short when they lead me into a side room with a tripod and a camera in the middle.
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they → cut → middle
The cameraman is standing next to them.
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cameraman → stand → them
It’s time to film my first video as a hostage.
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It → ’ → hostage
The Aporia
