Omer’s release leaves SA host sister smiling

When 22-year-old Kayla Lowenstein saw her Israeli host brother, Omer Shem Tov, being released from Hamas captivity on 22 February, she broke down in tears due to relief at seeing him alive and smiling in spite of the conditions he lived under for 505 days.

“It was a dream come true,” said Lowenstein, who was paired with the Shem Tov family in Herzliya, when she was finishing her schooling with the Na’ale Elite Academy (a programme that offers scholarships for Jews from around the world to do three to four years at top high schools in Israel) from 2018 to 2021. “I was amazed that in spite of everything he’s endured, he is still able to smile. My first thought when I saw him was simply, ‘Thank G-d!’”

Shem Tov, 22, was released along with Omer Wenkert, 23; Eliya Cohen, 27; Tal Shoham, 40; Hisham al-Sayed, 37; and Avera Mengistu, 38, last Saturday. Mengistu and al-Sayed had been captives for 10 years, while Shem Tov, Wenkert, and Cohen were kidnapped at the Nova Festival on 7 October 2023. Shoham, 40, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri while visiting his wife’s family on Simchat Torah.

“While I wish more than anything that I could have been there in person, having loved ones around me made the moment feel special and meaningful. It was the happiest day I, along with everyone who loves Omer, have had in a long time. Seeing Omer free was [a feeling] beyond words,” Lowenstein said.

The Shem Tov family, parents Shelly and Malki and their three children, Amit, Dana, and Omer, had been Lowenstein’s home from home for four years when she was paired with them while far from her own family in South Africa.

Lowenstein said that in spite of all that Shem Tov had gone through, his family had told her they were overjoyed and incredibly grateful to have Omer back. “That’s all that truly matters right now – having him home,” she said.

Shem Tov was kidnapped from the Nova festival along with two of his friends, siblings Maya and Itay Regev. Ori Danino, whom they had just met at the festival, turned back after running from the festival to go search for the Regev siblings and Shem Tov to rescue them. After Danino found them, Hamas kidnapped all four of the youngsters and took them into Gaza. When the terrorists entered the festival, Shem Tov shared his live location with his parents. They watched their cellphones helplessly as his pin entered Gaza and he was declared missing. It was only confirmed days later that he had been taken hostage when his family and friends saw a Telegram video showing Shem Tov lying on the ground with Itay Regev. His parents were able to recognise him from his tattoos.

Shem Tov’s family dedicated themselves to bringing him and all of the other hostages home, doing whatever they could to help the cause. “The past few months have been incredibly hard and uneasy, filled with countless questions,” said Lowenstein. “But witnessing the resilience of the nation, especially his family and friends who never stopped trying to bring him and everyone else home, was truly inspiring.”

The Regev siblings were freed in the hostage deal in November 2023, while Danino was one of six hostages murdered in Hamas tunnels in September 2024.

“For the first 50 days, he was with Itay Regev, and all the rest of the time, he was on his own,” Malki Shem Tov, Omer’s father, told Times of Israel. He spent the last 450-odd days alone in a tunnel.

Channel 12 said Shem Tov was initially held in apartments and later in tunnels, and that he was required to dress as a Muslim woman when moved around by his captors. He was once lowered into a tunnel in a small bucket, the network reported. At first, his hands were bound. He was cursed and spat upon, it said.

Shem Tov has since said that he saw Al Jazeera broadcasts during his captivity, and that reports of the struggle being waged for the hostages strengthened him, according to Channel 12.

Shem Tov suffers from asthma and celiac disease, and Hamas withheld his medical treatment from him. Malki told Ynet news that his son lost 17kg whilst in captivity.

In one last moment of psychological torment, Shem Tov was made to kiss Hamas gunmen on the forehead during the propaganda ceremony for his release on Saturday morning, footage that has reportedly gone viral on Arabic-language social media, purporting to show gratitude from the hostage to the terror group.

Malki told Times of Israel that Omer had told the family that Hamas had told him to wave and kiss the guard standing next to him.

Upon his release, Shem Tov was airlifted from a military facility near the Gaza border to a hospital in central Israel, and wrote on a whiteboard in Hebrew, “Now everything is OK! Thank you to the dear people of Israel, and all the soldiers!” He also added that he wanted a hamburger.

Lowenstein said she was amazed to see Shem Tov coming out of captivity with a smile on his face, and it immediately reminded her of the brother he had been to her before he was taken hostage.

“Whenever I was at the house, I would always hear him singing from my room, whether he was in the shower, the kitchen, or his room. He loved to be with his friends. He loved to be with his family. He and his family have such an incredible bond. They love him so much. He’s just the light of the family. There’s not one bad word that can be said about Omer. He’s just like that happiness in the darkness,” said Lowenstein.

“There have been so many emotions over the past 16 months,” she said, “Many of which are difficult to put into words. However, hope has been a constant thread that has kept us all going, and in the end, that hope was proven right.

“He is so strong and so amazing, and I’m so proud of him for coming out of such an awful situation with a smile on his face,” she said.

Now that he is home, Lowenstein is looking forward to seeing Shem Tov reclaim his life to the fullest, “just as he did before his abduction”.