For 505 days, Omer Wenkert endured captivity in the tunnels of Gaza, held hostage by Hamas terrorists who cut him off from the world. He had no access to news or updates, yet he always knew when ceasefire negotiations had collapsed or when an Israeli strike had targeted Hamas leaders—because his captors made sure he felt it.

“Every deal that fell through would bring up a lot of frustration, rage, and anger,” Wenkert said in his first interview since his February 22 release, speaking to Channel 12 News. “Not to mention when one of their fathers was killed, or their families, or when their senior officials were assassinated. You feel it. You know exactly what happened.”

The consequences were immediate and brutal. Hamas militants would respond with beatings, spitting, and forcing him into strenuous physical exercises, despite his severely weakened state.

“The goal was humiliation,” he said.

Yet, through it all, Wenkert refused to break. Even when Hamas staged a propaganda video before his release, attempting to showcase him as a defeated captive, he found his own form of defiance.

“It was victory for me,” he said. “I fought, fought, fought, fought, and won.”

Wenkert had traveled with his best friend, Kim Damti, to the Nova music festival. When it came under attack as rockets were fired and gunmen opened fire on attendees, Wenkert and Damti ran to a bomb shelter.

“I thought there was a group of three or four terrorists,” he recalled. “In a moment, the IDF will come and take them out.”

Terrorists threw grenades into the shelter, setting it on fire. Wenkert described the growing smoke and panic among those inside.

“Before that, there was hysteria, people were yelling,” he said. “But once they began burning us, it got quiet.”

Amid the chaos, he saw Damti struggling to breathe. He later learned that she did not survive.

Some people attempted to leave the shelter, believing that Israeli forces had arrived to rescue them, but they were shot by the attackers.

At that moment, Wenkert made the decision to leave.

“I came to terms with death,” he said. “I was ready for it. I walked out toward what I considered a sure death.”

Instead of being killed, Wenkert was taken hostage. Within ten minutes, he was in Gaza, bound and transported in a pickup truck through the streets, where he said bystanders, including children, hit him as he passed. He was then taken underground, where he would remain for more than 500 days, often alone, surviving on limited food and water.

For much of his captivity, Wenkert was kept in near-total darkness. He recalled how his captors reacted to events outside the tunnels—particularly IDF operations or the deaths of Hamas leaders.

“Every deal that fell through would bring up a lot of frustration, rage, and anger,” he said. “Not to mention when one of their fathers was killed, or their families, or when their senior officials were assassinated. You feel it. You know exactly what happened.”

On his birthday, he recalled being woken up by a violent beating.

“I saw the date and realized it was my birthday,” he said. “That was the day I took a rod to the head.”

Eventually, Wenkert was joined by three other hostages: Tal Shoham, Evyatar David, and Guy Gilboa-Delal. The four men divided tasks among themselves to maintain a sense of order and survival. Gilboa-Delal managed food rations, David focused on hygiene, and Shoham took on a guiding role, helping to keep morale intact.

Shoham was released alongside Wenkert in February, but David and Gilboa-Delal remained behind.

Wenkert last saw them inside a Hamas van, watching as he was freed.

“They smiled at me,” he said. “That little smile they sent me before I went home… that was the most moving thing I got from that ceremony.”

Now back in Israel, Wenkert says his focus remains on the hostages still in captivity.

“I don’t think about [my captors] at all,” he said. “In the end, they will remain trapped in their own evil… and we will go back to living our lives. And that will be the victory.”

His next goal, he said, is to help ensure the remaining hostages return home. “I won’t rest for a moment until they return,” he said.

Beyond that, he has one personal hope for the future: “I want to be a father.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)