The entire nation rejoiced when Doron Katz-Asher, along with her daughters Raz and Aviv, were freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza in November 2023. After some recovery time, the freed hostage became pregnant with her third child with her ex-husband, Yoni, giving birth this week.
Katz-Asher, who was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, while visiting family in Kibbutz Nir Oz, announced her pregnancy in October that she was expecting. This joyous revelation came less than a year after her release, following 49 days of captivity under Hamas. Her daughters, Raz (4) and Aviv (2), were also held with her. Tragically, Doron's mother, Efrat Katz, was killed during the attacks, and several other family members remain missing.
In an emotional Instagram post, Doron shared, “Bringing life into the world, a year after I almost lost my own, is the greatest gift we could ask for in the new year. My ray of light in the darkness.” The news has resonated deeply with many, symbolizing a remarkable journey of survival and resilience after such a traumatic ordeal.
However, since then, the freed hostage has separated from her husband, the couple announced in recent months. Prior to the war, she wanted to have another child, though her husband was not on the same page, she told Ynet in an interview in May.
In the same interview, she talked about how after her release, she had doubts about whether or not to conceive again. "When I returned from there, I doubted whether I wanted another child. Do I want to bring a child into a world like this or into a family with post-traumatic stress? After all, we've all been through an unimaginable experience here. Am I even capable of it?” she said. “Is it good for the family? My desire reared its head again a few months after I returned from captivity. I didn't expect it to come so relatively quickly. This is the pregnancy that came after a period of poor nutrition in captivity, drastic weight loss, stress, and grief. I'll be honest and say that I didn't even get my period for months,” responding to the interviewer's question on if she saw the pregnancy after extreme conditions a miracle.“Everything together wasn't in my favor. I was surprised, and it only made me feel like it was the right thing that had to happen. The pregnancy is one of the miracles that happened to me in the last year, alongside the difficult things."
Overcoming trauma with miracles
No matter what was to come, she was confident that it would bring good to her family after a period of extreme distress and change.
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Katz-Asher lost her mother, Efrat, who was killed by fire from an IAF helicopter on October 7. Her brother, Ravid Katz, was also murdered on October 7 while working to defend Kibbutz Nir Oz in their readiness class. Ravid’s body was kidnapped and recovered in July. Her mother’s husband, Gadi Moses, was recently released from captivity in Gaza after a year and three months.
Her family sees the birth of another child, a daughter, as an exciting way to close their family circle.