Liat Atzili, beloved school teacher was released from Hamas captivity
49-year-old respected educator was kidnapped separately from her husband • She will be reunited with her 3 children
Liat Atzili was released from Hamas captivity on Wednesday after 54 days, as part of the sixth round of the hostage deal.
49-year-old Liat from Kibbutz Nir Oz teaches history and citizenship at the school for students in the Gaza border communities.
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7, she and her husband Aviv were separated from each other and she ran to shut herself in the safe room.
Aviv, the manager of the car garage and the locksmith for the kibbutz, responded with the kibbutz's rapid-response squad to protect the community.
Their children - Aya, Neta and Ofri - were waiting for them in Israel.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the parents of Liat Atzili telling American reporters: “Liat Beinin is safe in Egypt. She's crossed the border. I talked to her mother and father; they're very appreciative,” he said. “She'll soon be home with her three children.”
“Jill and I are deeply gratified that she will soon be reunited with her three children and her father, who have been wracked with worry for her safety, and we remain determined to secure the release of every person taken hostage by Hamas during its brutal terrorist assault on Israel on October 7, including Liat’s husband Aviv,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Biden added that "the United States has led the international community to use this pause to accelerate the delivery of additional humanitarian assistance into Gaza. More than 200 trucks loaded with aid, including food, water, medicine, shelter supplies, fuel, and cooking gas, have entered Gaza each of the last few days."
"For the first time since this conflict began, aid reached northern Gaza. And yesterday, the United States airlifted more than 54,000 pounds of medical equipment and food aid to the humanitarian distribution center in Egypt – the first of three deliveries of critical supplies that will go to civilians in Gaza who need our help."
Yehuda Beinin, Liat's father, claimed after her abduction: "In all handling [of the hostages], the American security agencies were ahead of the Israeli ones. I got all the information from the Americans, nothing from Israel. I don't know what I would have done without the Americans."
Kan.org.il is the Hebrew news website of the The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation
