Yosef-Chaim Ohana and his friends attended the Nova Music Festival as a way to celebrate Ohana’s upcoming journey to the United States, where he had planned to take a pilot’s course, his friend previously told The Jerusalem Post. That same day, terrorists invaded southern Israel, where they murdered 1200 and abducted 250 more.
Ohana, now 24, and his friends had the opportunity to escape but stayed behind to help provide aid to those wounded by the invading terrorists. He used the training provided to him as a medic in the Givati Brigade to rescue the wounded, transporting them to paramedics. Once they were done helping, “they tried to run toward the main road, but then they saw that they were being fired at by RPGs,” Ohana’s mother told Ynet.. “Yosef-Chaim ran to the left, and his friend ran to the right and hid under a car.”
Ohana's friends and family would later learn that he was abducted to Gaza.
Ohana’s family confirmed in February that they received signs of life from him and Hamas later released a video of Ohana in May with fellow hostage Elkana Bohbot. In the video, Ohana denies that Hamas forced him to make the video and shared that there was no food. He added that he and Bohbot could have died during a March 18 airstrike.
Before his abduction
Originally from Kiryat Malachi, Ohana had moved in with his grandmother in Ramla and traveled to Tel Aviv frequently, where he worked as a bartender.
His family have shared with Israeli media that he is fond of music, particularly jazz, and has a keen interest in photography.
The Ohana family is also no stranger to tragedy, according to comments made by his father to Haaretz. Ohana’s younger brother, Asher Yitzhak, passed away from cancer at only seven years old
"I thought there was nothing harder than a father burying his son, but it turns out there is," Ohana’s father shared. “Asher Yitzhak was sick, but he was by my side. We took care of him, we knew about his every move. Now I am in complete ignorance about Yosef-Chaim, my son has been in an unknown place for so long and I can't help him with anything except praying. It's a broken understanding."