Ofer Calderin, who was held hostage by Hamas for 484 days, has started a crowdfunding campaign in order to rebuild his life following the October 7th massacre and his time being held captive in Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report published in Maariv, Ofir Calderin from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who survived being held hostage by Hamas for 484 days, started a crowdfunding campaign in order to rebuild his life after the October 7th massacre. The Maariv report stressed that upon being freed from Hamas captivity, he was unable to find a source of income.
Calderon, who returned from captivity about six months ago after he and his children Sahar and Erez were kidnapped on October 7, describes how he is dealing with severe trauma and is looking for a way to return to a normal life. His carpentry shop in Nir Oz was destroyed, and he says he is unable to return to living on the kibbutz due to the painful memories, and now he is asking for help from the public to rebuild his life and become a father who can support his family.
In a moving post he published on social media, Calderon reveals the depth of his trauma: “Since I returned, I have hardly posted anything here, and I never imagined I would write a post like this. But today I understand that I have no choice, there are things that must come out of me. It has already become stronger than me and no more. 484 days in Hamas captivity and I still have not truly returned to life.”
During the October 7th massacre, Ofer Calderon and his children, Sahar and Erez, were trapped inside their home’s bomb shelter, Arutz Sheva reported. According to the report, what began as a day of fear quickly spiraled into a harrowing ordeal. “I heard shouting in Arabic all around us,” Calderon recalled in an interview with Channel 12. “I knew immediately this was something different. I broke down like never before. I had a loaded gun, but there was no real way to protect my children.”
According to Arutz Sheva, the most terrifying moment came when he heard the gate to their vineyard creak open. “I thought to myself: Satan has come down from the sky,” he said. Realizing they were moments from being discovered, Calderon turned to his son. “I told Erez, ‘In a moment they’ll see us. I’m sorry, there’s nothing more I can do.’ To say something like that to your child… it completely breaks you.”
In a desperate attempt to save his son, Calderon made an unthinkable choice: he handed over his weapon to one of the attackers. The terrorists then separated him from Erez. “One of them tried to kill me right there,” he recounted. “I jumped, screamed, ‘I didn’t do anything to you!’ That somehow changed things. Then a huge man, dressed like a soldier, grabbed me by the neck, and they began beating me.”
Wounded and disoriented, Calderon was taken into Hamas’ underground tunnel network. “I was thrown into a cell with no shirt, freezing,” he said. Soon after, other hostages were brought in: Matan Zangauker, followed by Jimmy Pacheco and Yarden Bibas. “The three of us were packed into one tiny cell for two weeks, no air, no space, it was unbearable.”
In the Maariv article, Calderon describes the most difficult moment – the moment of the kidnapping while wounded and bleeding: “The morning of October 7 is the moment when my life fell apart. Before my eyes, when I was wounded and bleeding, Hamas terrorists kidnapped my two children, Sahar, 16, and Erez, who was only 12 at the time. Then I was dragged to Gaza, humiliated and helpless.”
He carries these painful thoughts with him every moment: “This moment, when Erez was torn from my hands and Sahar was led on a motorcycle between two terrorists, is a nightmare that comes back every night and never lets go of me. There are questions that I ask myself and I can’t ignore them. How did I fail as a father? How did I fail to protect them?”
The most painful moment in captivity, according to Calderon, was the meeting with his daughter Sahar before her release: “There is one unimaginable moment that never leaves me for a second: the meeting with my daughter, Sahar, in captivity, two weeks before they released her after 52 days. I was so happy to see her, but at the same time my heart broke into pieces. Imagine how I felt when they took her from me again, how her tears and our cries to stay together burned into my soul.”
Although Calderon was eventually released, the trauma continues to haunt him, Arutz Sheva noted. “I can’t sleep. And when I do, I wake up an hour later to imagined explosions in my head. The thoughts won’t leave me alone. I lock my door twice now, I never used to do that.”
Financially, Calderon says that he was left with nothing, Maariv reported: “When I returned, I had nothing left. My carpentry shop in Nir Oz, which I built with my own hands and was my source of income, will no longer be of use to me, for there is no way I will go back. My home has become a place of painful and chilling memories.”
Despite the difficulty, he decided not to give up: “I’m putting the shame aside and I’ll do everything to never abandon my family again, so that I feel like a father who can provide for and protect his children like any other father. I never dreamed that I would reach the day when I would have to ask for help, but I have no choice.”
According to Maariv, the campaign was launched with the help of his riding group, “The Smurfs,” and the “Reach Out” association. Calderon ended the post with this: “I thank everyone who fought for me and everyone who prayed that I would return and with a prayer that all the kidnapped people who are still there will return home. Every moment that passes could be too late.”
Photo from StandWithUs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbdK1iltJ2M
