After nearly eight hundred days of captivity, the last Hungarian hostage from the Gaza Strip was able to return home. Omri Miran, a 48-year-old father, was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, and was released more than 2 years later, on October 13, 2025. This is not only good news for his family, but also a diplomatic success; Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó thanked US President Donald Trump for rescuing the Hungarian citizen.
Omri Miran, now 48, worked as a shiatsu therapist at the Nahal Oz kibbutz clinic near the Gaza Strip before the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This meant that he helped children who were struggling in school, mentoring and motivating them to fit in as best he could. He was also responsible for the settlement's landscaping.
Born in northern Israel, he moved to the kibbutz in 2014, where he married Lishay Miran-Lavi in 2020. They have two daughters: Roni, now four, and Alma, two. Omri's mother is Hungarian-born, making him a dual Israeli-Hungarian citizen - a relationship that later played a key role in the diplomatic efforts for his release.
Dawn of terror
On the morning of October 7, 2023, when air raid sirens sounded, the Miran family fled to the safe room of their house. At 10:30 a.m., Hamas terrorists broke into their home. The gunmen threatened to shoot their 16-year-old neighbor, Tomer Arbe-Eliaz, if the family did not open the door. The terrorists initially considered killing the family, but eventually decided to move everyone to a neighboring house. While they were sitting on the floor as hostages, they heard the terrorists murder the 18-year-old daughter of the neighboring family in the safe room. A few hours later, two more women were brought into the house, one of whom was American and spoke English.
At around 1:00 p.m., two terrorists stood up Omri and the other male member of the detained family and took them away along with their car keys.
Minutes earlier, Lishay had told her husband, “I love you, I will protect our daughters, we are waiting for you, please don’t be heroic.” After Omri was kidnapped, Lishay and her daughters had to wait another four hours before Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers found and rescued them at 5:30 p.m. Omri was already in Gaza, being held captive.
738 days in the dark
The father of the family had been missing for months. He first showed signs of life in April 2024, when Hamas released a propaganda video in which Miran hoped for a hostage deal. As we wrote earlier, the man struggled with tears in the recording and said how much he missed his wife, children, and all his relatives, and how unbearably difficult his situation was. The hostage then thanked everyone who had fought to get him home.
Omri Miran has called on Israelis to organize a demonstration in front of Benjamin Netanyahu's residence and bring his daughters there so he can at least see them on TV. Like most hostage videos, this one reinforces the Hamas narrative and builds on propaganda. Nothing proves this better than Miran's claim that the Israeli president's supporters don't care about the hostages and his call for previously released citizens to speak to the media about this hopeless situation.
⚡️BREAKING
— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) April 23, 2025
“Shalom, I am Omri Miran, and this is my second birthday in Hamas captivity.”
-Al-Qassam Brigades pic.twitter.com/PlcYpdPkq9
In February 2024, a previously released Israeli hostage confirmed that Miran was still alive in July. Her brother, Boaz, said:"Her condition was generally stable during the time they spent together, both in the tunnels and in the residential buildings."
On April 24, 2024, on his 565th day in captivity, Hamas released another propaganda video about Miran. In the video, the man said that it was his 48th birthday that day, but he had nothing to celebrate. He made himself a cake in the tunnel, but emphasized that he had not had much joy in the past year and a half. He constantly talked about how much he missed his wife, children, and his entire family. It was also noticeable through the video how hopeless his situation felt.
Hamas released a video with a first proof-of-life from U.S. citizen Keith Siegal who is held hostage in Gaza. The video includes a proof-of-life from another hostage - Omri Miran
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) April 27, 2024
His family fought tirelessly for him.
His wife, Lishay Miran-Lavi, and Omri's father, Dani, led the protest movement for his release. In August 2025, Lishay organized a nationwide strike and mass demonstrations, bringing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to the streets, demanding a hostage deal and Omri's release.
"Roni was two years old when it happened, he's four now, and yet he remembers everything. He remembers what happened that day. He remembers the knife, the guns, he remembers his father being taken away. He remembers the last hug Omri gave him," Lishay said in an interview.
The family did not hesitate to take advantage of the fact that they are Hungarian, meeting several times with the Hungarian ambassador to Israel, in order to achieve their goal as soon as possible and see their son again. Even former President Katalin Novák welcomed them in Hungary. Omri's father and mother pulled out all the stops to ensure that their son's case would not be forgotten.
Liberation Day
The long-awaited news arrived on Monday morning, October 13, 2025. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on his social media page: “After more than two years of hope, the long-awaited notification has arrived in the last few minutes: Omri Miran has been handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross, thus freeing the last Hungarian hostage from Hamas captivity.” The Israeli army officially confirmed that Omri Miran, a dual Hungarian-Israeli citizen, was among the first seven hostages handed over. The hostages crossed the border and were taken to an Israeli hospital.
Shortly after her husband's release, Lishay posted a video on social media showing her telling her children the news of their father's release.
Omri, the father, has returned home. After more than 700 long, painful and agonizing days, his children can finally hug him
– he wrote.
אבא עמרי ביטים.
— Lishay Miran-Lavi (@LishayLM) October 13, 2025
Daddy Omri is Home.
❤️ pic.twitter.com/MrIT2hG51E
The family's official statement highlighted:"After more than 700 long, painful and agonizing days, Omri finally receives the healing embrace of Roni and Alma. The family is at the beginning of a complex and challenging, yet touching journey of recovery."
The hope of a life free from terrorism
Péter Szijjártó thanked US President Donald Trump, who “after the Abraham Accords five years ago, has once again brought about an agreement that offers the people of the Middle East hope for a peaceful, secure, and terrorism-free life.” The Hungarian Foreign Minister also praised the mediation work of Qatar and Egypt.
The younger men – including Miran – were only able to return home later. Hamas handed over a total of 20 live hostages on the first day of the agreement in exchange for the release of more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Omri Miran was the only Hungarian citizen among them, which is a huge diplomatic success for the Hungarian state, according to Péter Szijjártó.
The kibbutz where the family lived has been uninhabited since October 7, 2023. Survivors are divided on whether they will ever return to their home on the border with the Gaza Strip.
