Nili, a resident of Nir Oz, was kidnapped along with dozens of residents of the kibbutz on the morning of October 7.

There, 40 meters underground, she found herself providing medical care to people who had been her neighbors in the kibbutz for many years. “I think that my profession is what saved me. I have been a nurse for 12 years and it a bit of who I am. It is a significant part of my identity – helping and caring for people. I love it.”

For 50 days and nights, Nili treated her friends, did everything she could to help them and improve their situation. Captivity in closed tunnels, completely cut off from daylight and knowledge of what was going on in Israel was unbearable. Nili, with courage and professionalism, devotedly and creatively treated everyone, even at the price of confronting the kidnappers.

Nili was released from captivity on 30.11.2023 but to this day is unwilling to visit the kibbutz or even see pictures, as long as the other hostages are in captivity where they are. "The only way that this community will manage to recover, the only way that we will manage to put this trauma behind us and rise up again, to begin again, is only if everyone returns".