Almog Meir Jan, 21, taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Supernova music festival massacre on October 7.
אלמוג מאיר שחולץ משבי חמאס ושב לישראל בשיחת וידאו ראשונה עם חבריו | תיעוד@lirankog pic.twitter.com/kBBg471XkK
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 8, 2024
In a video circulating on social media, his family was seen celebrating and singing“Am Yisrael Chai” as they received the news of his release.
Almog, a resident of Or Yehuda, had been anxiously anticipating the Supernova festival for months, his family told The Jerusalem Post in January.
His mother, Orit, recalled on October 7, as she said “At 7:45 a.m., Almog called me and said, ‘Ima, turn on the television. The army has shut down the party. There are rockets from all directions, and we are being shot at. I don’t know what’s going on, but I will try to call you every half an hour. Ima, I love you.”
After Almog’s call to Orit, his sister immediately shared his photo on social media, grasping for any sign that he was still alive. Around noon, a friend called Orit, crying that she had seen a video of Almog with four other hostages. Upon seeing the clips published by Hamas, Orit immediately recognized her only son.
“At that moment, I felt a hole in the pit of my stomach and began screaming. That’s the moment you realize that your entire life will be changed forever.
Alomg's family told KAN that "he saw himself on TV while held hostage." According to his family, Almog was shown TV broadcasts from Israel of hostage release protests where he saw picture of himself being displayed.
Hamas also forced Almog to record a hostage video on his birthday in May, which he was subsequently shown. The video was never released, to the shock of Almog as he asked his friends and family if they had seen it.
Eric Narrow and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report