“[After] 505 days of heroic struggle, [I am] proud to say – ‘I defeated the captivity,’” Omer Wenkert shared in his first post on Instagram since his release from being held hostage at the hands of Hamas after over 500 days.
His words were followed by a smiling angel emoji.
Wenkert was one of many hostages who were emaciated and had suffered extreme weight loss during captivity.
“It happened,” he wrote, referring to his release.
“I am free! Freedom has no price, and I almost couldn’t remember how sweet and pleasant it is.”
Describing himself as a man of many words, Wenkert said he was speechless.
The post included several images, including a video of him dancing on grass alongside his father.
He continued to say that his future — life post-captivity — will come with its own obstacles.
“Now I am embarking on a new path! Confusing, challenging, complicated, crazy, joyful, exhausting, complex, uplifting, different, powerful and mighty! And this path? This path, in all its layers, is my life and freedom.”
He noted that he will soon conclude his medical testing post-release.
“With God’s help, I will arrive at my doorstep the moment I have been waiting! Now is good.”
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Who is Omer Wenkert?
Wenkert was 22 when Hamas abducted him from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. Now 23, he was released last Saturday under the ceasefire-hostage deal.
He suffers from an autoimmune disease, and his family said on his website they feared his terrorist captors were not providing him with the medication he needs. His condition, colitis, causes ulcers to appear in the digestive tract, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In the moments leading up to his capture, Wenkert texted his parents that he was “scared to death.” While many families were left unaware for days whether their loved ones were abducted or murdered, his family was informed hours after his abduction when Hamas posted a video of him strapped to a pickup truck in his underwear. Images later circulated showing him lying on the ground in Gaza.
Kim Damti, a friend attending the festival with Wenkert, was murdered while hiding in a bomb shelter.
Liam Or, a hostage released in the November deal, told the family he was held with Wenkert, according to Haaretz.
“Liam said that Omer encouraged him, kept his optimism, and even managed to sing in captivity,” Wenkert’s mother said.
Or has previously described being held with Wenkert and Thai workers in Gaza. He described how all of them were made to sleep on a nylon sheet in a locked room with a barrel to use for a toilet.
The oldest of three children, Wenkert loves working with young people, eventually volunteering as an instructor for the Gedera branch of the group Young Maccabi.
Before his abduction, he was employed at the restaurant Nina Bianca, and he aspired to become a restaurant critic one day. He was enrolled to begin studying at Shenkar College in a restaurant management course – a dream put on pause by his captors.