Two years ago, Avinatan Or was kidnapped in Gaza on October 7, and released on October 13 this year under a ceasefire agreement. He recently spoke about his two-year ordeal at the North American Jewish Federation conference held in Washington. He was held captive for 738 days in an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip, chained alone in pitch-black darkness, given only meager amounts of food. He said the hardest part was the complete isolation from the outside world. False information about his loved ones also exerted psychological pressure, he noted. However, he said that to survive, he "made efforts to change his own fate." That involved, at one point, escaping from the tunnel, writing "hostage" on a sandbag, and searching for a way to flee. But that attempt was noticed by his guards, after which he was beaten for days and tied to a chair for a week. He also spoke about his psychological and emotional survival strategies—how, within his solitary cell, he engaged with the terrorists in ways that helped him reclaim his humanity and not lose sight of the life and world beyond his captivity. "I talked with my captors about faith, the Quran, and the Torah. It reminded me that humans can exist even in darkness," he said. And he stated that the true heroes are the IDF soldiers who worked to rescue them, adding that he now wants to get involved in treating soldiers' trauma. "It's possible for everything to be taken from you, but no one can take away your mind and clarity. Everything in my life has shaped who I am now. And it has allowed me to remain myself," he concluded.