- Ohad Munder-Zichri is believed to be a hostage, alongside together with his mom and grandparents, held by Hamas.
- On Monday, October 23, he turned 9 years previous.
- Ohad has not been seen since Hamas militants attacked the kibbutz of Nir Oz the place he was visiting.
Ohad Munder-Zichri’s ninth birthday is on Monday, October 23.
However as an alternative of celebrating at residence together with his household and buddies, he’s believed to be someplace in Gaza, one in every of greater than 200 hostages held by Hamas for the reason that militants’ devastating October 7, 2023, incursion.
The fourth-grader from the central Israeli metropolis of Kfar Saba was nabbed alongside together with his mom and grandparents throughout a vacation go to to his grandparents’ kibbutz of Nir Oz alongside the border with Gaza.
Ohad’s beloved uncle was killed within the assault. The boy, his mother, and his grandparents disappeared with the one thread of details about them coming from a cellphone sign traced to Gaza.
It is that uncertainty that has been most agonizing for Ohad’s grief-stricken father, Avi Zichri.
“I hold imagining what he’s going by. He is a delicate boy. Did he see lifeless our bodies? He wears glasses. Did they take them from him? Can he see something?” Zichri stated as he nervously chain-smoked cigarettes on his entrance porch.
“I hold pondering of each situation, hoping for the least catastrophic. I simply hope that he’s protected and together with his mom.”
Zichri has been dwelling this nightmare for 17 days, saying the ideas by no means go away him and the one reprieve comes when he takes sleeping drugs that knock him out for the evening.
“After which I get up within the morning and really feel responsible for not fascinated with them in my sleep,” the 69-year-old stated.
Ohad is Zichri’s solely little one together with his accomplice, Keren Munder, a 54-year-old particular schooling trainer and volleyball coach for kids with disabilities. He is additionally the one grandson of Avraham and Ruti Munder, each 78, who disappeared with them from Nir Oz, the place about 80 individuals — almost 1 / 4 of all residents of the small group — are believed to have been taken hostage. Ohad liked visiting his grandparents and his uncle there.
At residence, he’s a gifted scholar who loves fixing Rubik’s cubes and enjoying soccer, tennis, and chess. He is a big fan of Liverpool FC and his bed room, untouched since his abduction, consists of group souvenirs, his numerous trophies, household photographs on the partitions, and the flowery Lego constructions he liked to construct.
“He is extremely sensible and charming and could be very developed verbally. He teaches me issues on a regular basis and I typically neglect that he’s solely 9 years previous,” Zichri stated.
Monday’s birthday provided an opportunity to boost consciousness of Ohad’s plight.
There was an outpouring of native and worldwide help. The Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, launched a world social media marketing campaign, calling on individuals to ship him digital birthday playing cards.
Members of Ohad’s favourite Israeli soccer group and different outstanding Israeli athletes have recorded birthday greetings and needs for his protected return. Yellow balloons with messages recognizing his birthday in captivity had been strewn throughout his hometown of Kfar Saba, with different native initiatives happening. Native media broadly acknowledged the day and buddies posted tributes on social media.
Ohad’s members of the family spoke with CNN concerning the 9-year-old and had been requested what they’d say to those that apparently have him captive.
“Allow them to go,” Itay Raviv stated. “They’re harmless. They’re harmless civilians.”
The household particularly known as for the discharge of the youngsters. Not less than 20 of the hostages are believed to be kids and youths, in accordance with the Israel Protection Forces’ estimates final week.
“We ask all media for everybody in Israel to hold a balloon,” Merav Raviv, the niece of Avraham and Ruti Munder, advised CNN’s Jake Tapper.
For Zichri, Ohad’s father, it was simply one other in a sequence of agonizing days, with anxiousness consuming his each second.
“I want I may have fun with him at present. However it feels no completely different. It is simply get up and fear,” he stated. “And each day it will get worse.”
Zichri was awaiting Ohad and his mother’s return on October 7 when he heard air-raid sirens warning of incoming rockets. He instinctively reached out to Munder figuring out that she and Ohad had been in a lot nearer vary.
Pulling out his cellphone, Zichri confirmed their last exchanges.
“There may be nonstop firing right here and there may be concern terrorists have infiltrated the villages,” Munder wrote at 7:24 a.m.
She wrote that they had been hiding within the protected room and she or he had locked the door. She stated she forgot her cellphone charger within the kitchen and would possibly quickly run out of battery, however she managed to let Zichri know that they had turned off the information in order that Ohad may quietly watch a TV present to distract him from what was occurring exterior.
“Let’s hope this ends rapidly with nobody getting harmed,” she wrote in her final message at 7:39 a.m. “Care for your self and observe the homefront command directions.”
Zichri stated it was typical of Munder to “all the time fear about others earlier than herself.”
Zichri stated he shudders at each report of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, questioning if that they had harmed his family members. The one factor that retains him going all through the infinite, agonizing await data is the help of a small group of buddies and a imaginative and prescient of at some point reuniting together with his son and Munder, and falling into their arms in a tearful embrace.
“All I can do is hope,” he stated. “There may be nothing else I can do.”
