The Elyakim Family

The terrorists separated Tomer from the family and forced him at gunpoint to go from house to house. He was ordered to call residents out of their protected rooms. (2)

At several homes, Tomer told the terrorists that nobody was inside even though he knew people were there, helping save the residents hiding inside. (3)

The terrorists put the wounded Noam, Dikla, Dafna and Ela into a vehicle and drove toward Gaza. The vehicle was fired on from behind.

The 2025 IDF inquiry found a reasonable possibility that Dikla was killed by Israeli fire directed at the vehicle after it was identified as one being used by fleeing terrorists. The inquiry did not determine this with certainty. (2)

Dafna later said the terrorists initially moved her away without Ela. She went back for her eight-year-old sister rather than leave her beside Dikla's body and their badly wounded father. (4)

Noam regained consciousness and asked the girls not to leave. The terrorists kept their weapons trained on Dafna and threatened to shoot her if she spoke. (4)

The terrorists then took Dafna and Ela toward Gaza. Noam was later filmed alive, wounded and limping as armed men took him toward the border. His body was found near the border days later; the circumstances of his death have not been publicly established. (1)

Dafna and Ela were moved repeatedly during their 51 days in captivity. Dafna later estimated that they passed through nine locations, including private homes, a school, a container in a market and an underground space. (4)

At the school, they were ordered not to speak Hebrew, English or Arabic for five days and were threatened with death if they did. They slept on a blanket on the floor. (5)

Ela had injuries to her hand and leg. Dafna later described one of Ela's fingers being treated without anesthesia while Ela screamed and was made to bite down on a person's hand to keep quiet. (4)

Dafna took responsibility for her younger sister. When food was scarce, she made sure Ela ate first and pushed her to eat whenever food was available because they did not know when they would be given another meal.

Dafna also made Ela shower whenever they were allowed to, because she did not know when they would next have the opportunity. Ela later said Dafna told her that if Ela did not eat, Dafna would not eat either. (5)

Their captors repeatedly told them that people in Israel did not care about them and did not want them back alive. Dafna later said she came to believe this while in captivity. (6)

During the final period of captivity, the sisters were held underground with other female hostages in a low, confined space where they could not stand upright and had little food or water. (5)(4)

In 2025, Dafna disclosed that one captor repeatedly touched her and told her that when the others were released, he would keep her and marry her. (6)

In a later documentary interview, she described him putting his hand inside her shirt and trying to lift it. Dafna said she froze and could not move until Ela entered the room, interrupting what was happening. (4)

Dafna and Ela were released on November 26 after 51 days in captivity and reunited with their mother, Maayan Zin. (1)

Dafna said that even as she was being taken out of Gaza, she feared the release could be a trick and that a Hamas member might appear and take her back. Seeing her mother was the moment she understood that she had actually returned. (5)