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"This path in all its layers, is my life and freedom,” Wenkert wrote.
By DANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD, JERUSALEM POST STAFF FEBRUARY 28, 2025 19:53
Freed hostage Omer Wenkert turned to Instagram to celebrate his freedom after captivity.
(photo credit: INSTAGRAM via OMER WENKERT)
“[After] 505 days of heroic struggle, [I am] proud to say- 'I defeated the captivity,’” followed by an emoji depicting a smiling angel, Omer Wenkert shared in his first post on Instagram since his release from Hamas captivity for over 500 days.
Wenkert was one of many hostages who were emaciated and had suffered extreme weight loss during captivity.
“It happened,” he wrote, nodding to his release.
“I am free! Freedom has no price, and I almost couldn't remember how sweet and pleasant it is.”
Wenkert, who described himself as a man of many words, said that he was speechless.
The post included several images, including a video of him dancing on grass alongside his father.
He continued to say that his future — life post-captivity — will come with its own obstacles.
“Now I am embarking on a new path! Confusing, challenging, complicated, crazy, joyful, exhausting, complex, uplifting, different, powerful and mighty! And this path? This path in all its layers, is my life and freedom.”
He noted that he will soon conclude his medical testing post-release.
“With God's help I will arrive at my doorstep the moment I have been waiting for! Now is good.”
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Who is Omer Wenkert?
Omer Wenkert was 22 when Hamas abducted him from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. Now 23, the young volunteer has been released last Saturday under the ceasefire-hostage deal.
Wenkert suffers from an autoimmune disease, and his family said on his website they fear his terrorist captors are not providing him with the medication he needs. His condition, colitis, causes ulcers to appear in the digestive tract, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In the moments leading up to his capture, Omer texted his parents that he was “scared to death.” While many families were left unknowing for days whether their loved ones were abducted or murdered, his family were informed hours after his abduction after Hamas posted a video of the young Omer strapped to a pickup truck in his underwear. Images later circulated showing Omer lying on the ground in Gaza.
Kim Damti, a friend attending the festival with Omer, was murdered while hiding in a rocket shelter.
Liam Or, a hostage released in the November deal, told the family he was held with Omer, according to Haaretz.
"Liam said that Omer encouraged him, kept his optimism, and even managed to sing in captivity,” Omer’s mother said.
Liam has previously described being held with Wenkert and Thai workers in Gaza. He described how all of them were made to sleep on a nylon sheet in a locked room with a barrel to use for a toilet.
The oldest of three children, Omer loved young people - eventually volunteering as an instructor for the Gedera branch of the group Young Maccabi.
Before being abducted, Omer was employed at the restaurant Nina Bianca, and he aspired to one day become a restaurant critic. He was enrolled to begin study at Shenkar College to study a restaurant management course - a dream paused by his captors.
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