Here Lived
Sagui, Avital, Bar, and Gali lived in this home, along with Shahar Mazal (then in her mother’s belly).
Sagui was born in Nir Oz, and Avital grew up in Dimona. Sagui met Avital at a family wedding on the kibbutz when he was 16, and she was 14. They have been together ever since. Ten years after they met, they got married and had three daughters. They lived in Gedera for three years, for studies, and when their first daughter, Bar, was born, decided to return to Nir Oz. That was where they wanted to raise their family.
Kibbutz life is the best life a person can have — it offers family, friends, community, good education, communal holiday celebrations, a swimming pool, and a mango tree in the yard.
Sagui and Avital loved the communal life in the kibbutz, the education for values and generosity of spirit, and the kibbutz community’s respect for every human being. They lived intense lives revolving around their careers and their growing family, but kibbutz life gave them the calm they needed.
October 7th
On Saturday, October 7, with their Sukkah still standing outside their house, Sagui went to the kibbutz’s garage to work on the buses he loved. Avital awoke to the noise of sirens. She ran to the girls in the safe room. She was seven months pregnant with their third daughter.
It took hours for Sagui to get back home. When he got to the safe room, he told Avital that no one – neither soldiers nor anyone else – had arrived to rescue them, and that in a few minutes, the terrorists would reach their home. With only moments to decide, Sagui chose to go outside the safe room, to try to protect his family, while Avital remained in the safe room with the girls.
15 minutes later, the terrorists entered their home, and the struggle between Sagui and the terrorists ensued. Throughout this time, Avital and her daughters could hear everything that was happening in the house — the nonstop gunshots, the terrorists’ shouts, the knocks on the door, and the hurling of grenades.
Avital remained in the safe room for 10 hours, in complete darkness, without electricity, water, or food. The girls were quiet but kept asking where their father was. Bar, the oldest, was 6 at the time, and Gali was 2.
While Avital and the girls were in the safe room waiting to be rescued, Sagui was shot and abducted to Gaza.
After 10 hours of fear and terror, Avital and the girls were rescued and taken to the operations room on Nir Oz, where the other families were.
All day long, Avital looked for Sagui and asked everyone she met to look everywhere for him and return him to her. At that point, she didn’t know that there had been kidnappings and didn’t understand what a difficult and cruel journey she was about to embark upon.
A day later, Avital was evacuated with her family to Eilat, barefoot, confused, with two little girls and a little one in her belly.
What Happened Since
Sagui was declared “missing” at first. It took two weeks until he was declared a “hostage”. According to Avital, the change of Sagui’s status from “missing” to “hostage” was the best moment for her, because she realized that Sagui’s and her life might go back the way it was.
The fight for Sagui’s return lasted 498 days, during which time Avital gave birth to their third daughter (Shahar Mazal), moved to a new house, continued to run the family business, and traveled wherever necessary to advocate for Sagui’s return home.
While Avital and the girls fought for his release from the outside, Sagui was held in captivity, almost completely cut off from news of their fates. He did not know what had become of Avital, the girls, the pregnancy, and the family, and was forced to hold on to hope without truly knowing what awaited him if and when he returned to Israel. It wasn’t until the day before his return that he learned that he was returning to a complete family, and what was more – to a family that had expanded while he was away.
After almost 500 days, on Valentine’s Day, Avital was told that Sagui was coming back to her. Since then, Sagui and Avital have tried to heal and return to life as they had known it before.
Sagui, Avital, and the girls now live in Kiryat Gat and are looking for a new home.
Sagui is in the process of physical rehabilitation for the wounds he incurred on October 7 and returned with many injuries for which only once he was back in Israel, did he begin to receive proper medical treatment. Shahar Mazal met her father for the first time, and from that moment, she won’t leave his side. Gali has overcome the fear she had when her father returned at first and has started to play with him, go places with him, and ask him to buy her the white chocolate which she loves so much. Bar, the eldest, reminded Sagui that a few years ago, he promised her a Jacuzzi on the roof, and at long last, Sagui has kept his promise.
Sagui went back to work and is taking on additional projects. The family flows between personal rehabilitation and family rehabilitation and dreams of being the same people they were on October 6, 2023.
