Family of ‘miracle’ 4-year-old American freed by Hamas continues to fight for other hostages
The kin of Avigail Mor Idan – the 4-year-old American girl who was kidnapped by Hamas – received “a miracle” when she returned to them alive in November, and now they’re doing everything they can to share her story and push for the freedom of the more than 130 hostages who remain in Gaza.
Liz Hirsch Naftali, Avigail’s great-aunt, told The Post that as the little Israeli-American girl continues to recover from the trauma of seeing her parents die in front of her and living in captivity for 50 days, the family is focusing on helping secure the freedom of the other hostages believed to be alive, including five Americans.
“When Abigail came home, I thought, how can I help the others,” Naftali said of the families she bonded with through their shared pain of waiting for their loved ones to be freed.
“What we can do is share her story and remind people that this is also a story about Americans who were murdered, kidnapped and dragged back to Gaza,” she added.
No one initially believed that Avigail was alive when Hamas barged into her family’s home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and gunned down her parents, Roi and Smadar Idan.
In his final acts of fatherly love, Roi shielded Avigail from the bullets, with his bloodied body covering the child and helping her avoid Hamas’ detection.
Smeared in her father’s blood, the then-3-year-old child made her way to her neighbor’s home, where dozens of Hamas operatives would eventually arrive to kidnap her and the Brodutch family and take them to Gaza.
During her 50 days in captivity, Avigail was protected by a loving mother, Hagar Broducth, who took care of her and her own three children until they were eventually freed during the brief cease-fire agreement in November.
“The moment she came back to us, we felt like we could start moving forward,” Naftali said, calling the emotional moment a “miracle.”
And part of moving forward is fighting for the other families who have yet to be reunited, including the relatives of Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Keith Siegel. The first four are Israeli-American, while Siegel is solely a US citizen.
Naftali said the group suffered a recent blow when Israeli-American Itay Chen, a 19-year-old IDF sergeant, was confirmed to have been killed when Hamas abducted him Oct. 7, much to the distraught of his father, Ruby Chen, who had been advocating for months on the belief that his son was still alive.
Despite the loss, Ruby continues to push for the freedom of the other hostages and the return of his son’s body, writing in a USA Today op-ed last week that he and his wife “refuse to let the pain paralyze” them.
“We will continue to fight – harder than ever before – until Itay and all the hostages are released from captivity and reunited with their families,” Ruby wrote.
Naftali echoed Ruby’s words, describing him and the other parents as heroes working to make sure Americans know that their fellow citizens are still suffering under Hamas despite the pain of not even knowing if their children are alive or not after six months.
She also called on Americans to reach out to their local representatives in Congress to ensure the US continues to fight for their freedom in the ongoing hostage negotiations with Qatari and Egyptian negotiators.
“I also ask anyone to join their local demonstrations or rallies for the hostages to show their support and understand the real narrative here,” Naftali said. “Remember that these are Americans who were attacked and kidnapped by a terrorist group.
“We want people to understand the lives behind these stories.”
