“I Just Wanted to Survive”: Hostage Shares Chilling October 7 Kidnapping by Hamas
Doron Steinbrecher, a Kfar Aza resident, survived a near-fatal Hamas abduction on October 7, 2023, hiding under a bed as terrorists shot at her, and now calls for the release of remaining hostages. Her chilling account highlights the brutality of Hamas’s attack and the ongoing trauma of captivity.
Doron Steinbrecher, a 31-year-old nurse from Kfar Aza’s Dor Tze’ir neighborhood, shared a harrowing account of her abduction by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth on July 19, 2025. As Hamas’s attack unfolded, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 hostages, Steinbrecher hid under her bed when she heard terrorists approaching her apartment. “When I was here in the apartment, I suddenly remembered the sound of the window when the terrorists opened it,” she recalled. “I knew the terrorists were getting closer, so I hid under the bed. Then, as I was talking to my mother, I heard them at the door, shouting ‘Iftah al-Bab!’ (Open the door!). I told my mother, ‘They’re here,’ and then I heard the ‘crack’ of the window, and I realized they had entered.”
A terrorist initially overlooked her, saying, “There’s no one here,” but the group returned after noticing a refrigerator propped against the door. “They shot at the bed. The bullet missed my head,” Steinbrecher said. “Then they lifted the mattress and realized I was underneath. I raised my hands, and four terrorists dragged me outside. They grabbed my hand, put me on a shelf, and we exited through the window.” As she was taken toward Gaza, she thought, “I realized I was being kidnapped to Gaza and hoped they wouldn’t kill me. I tried to resist, to delay, hoping someone would come, but no one was coming.” In captivity, she focused solely on survival: “On the way to Gaza, I simply switched off in my mind, shut myself down, and said, ‘Alright, there’s nothing you can do about this. No matter what, just stay alive, just survive. Let them do what they want, as much as they want. Surviving was the only thing in my mind.’”
Freed in a November 2023 hostage deal, Steinbrecher now advocates for the 50 remaining captives, saying, “In captivity, I had no hope, but in the end, I came back, so I must [have hope now]. There can’t be a reality where they don’t come back. It’s almost two years. This doesn’t make sense.” Social media posts on X echoed her urgency, with one user stating, “Doron’s story is gut-wrenching, bring the hostages home now!” Her survival amid the ongoing war, with 888 Israeli deaths since October 2023, underscores the human toll and the urgent need for a resolution.