Ori returned to rescue his friends – and was kidnapped by Hamas: 'If he hadn't returned, he wouldn't have forgiven himself'
Ori Danino, who was kidnapped to Gaza from the party in Re'im on Oct. 7, had already managed to escape the inferno, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, decided to return to rescue Omer Shem Tov, and Maya and Itay Regev, whom he had met that evening through a mutual friend.
Liel Avraham, Ori's partner, spoke about his courage in an interview for the "Seder Yom" radio show with Keren Neubach, saying: "He wouldn't have forgiven himself if he hadn't returned to save them, I'm so glad that this is who he is."
"He returned to the area of the party in Re'im after Maya and Itay had been fleeing from the terrorists on foot for two hours," said Liel. "He put them in the car, and followed the same route he made earlier with other survivors, trying to get to a main road - and from there to escape home. When they got there, they encountered a white van. Ori told them: 'These are terrorists – get down.' They started shooting in all directions - and then Ori disappeared."
Maya and Itay were injured, and after they opened their eyes, the car was still moving without anyone in the driver's seat, where Ori sat.
"They thought he had survived, but he was kidnapped together with them. For 30 days, he had been classified as missing, until we understood that he was kidnapped. There is no information about him. In one of my first conversations with Maya, she told me, 'Liel, I believed so much that he was bringing me home, I got into the car and fastened my seatbelt.'"
Maya and Itai Regev went to the party with great excitement, having returned from a trip to Mexico the day before. Their family found out about their abduction after being exposed to a video, in which Itay was seen being loaded into a van by terrorists. Maya was released at the end of November in the second round of the hostage release deal. Itay was released after 54 days, in the sixth round.
Keren Neubach is a correspondent for KAN 11 News.
