In the predawn darkness of October 7, as chaos engulfed southern Israel, Ori Danino made a choice that would seal his fate. The 22-year-old paratrooper, fresh from a night of music and celebration at the Nova festival, turned his car around and drove back into hell.
"He didn't think twice," says Einav Danino, Ori's mother, her voice a mix of pride and anguish. In an exclusive interview earlier today (Monday) on Kan Reshet Bet, she reveals the torturous months that followed her son's abduction by Hamas, painting a portrait of a family suspended between hope and despair.
Uri's story is one of both tragedy and valor. A soldier with an important and classified army role, he had escaped the initial onslaught only to return for near-strangers – Itai and Maya Regev – whom he'd befriended hours earlier. This split-second decision of courage would cost him his freedom and ultimately his life.
"He managed to reach them and get them out, but not completely," Einav recounts. A terrorist's bullet disabled Ori's car engine. In the chaos that followed, Ori vanished – snatched away while Itai and Maya, themselves injured, could only watch helplessly.
For three months, the Daninos lived in limbo. After that, they started receiving a sign of life almost every month.
Ori's mother recalls, "We received signs of life almost every month. We knew our army was there and doing everything for Ori. About three weeks ago they told us there's an up-to-date sign of life, that it could even be from today or yesterday. It really encouraged us and made us happy, because in the beginning when Ori was kidnapped, we received the news after about a month that he was in the hands of a terrorist organization."
These breadcrumbs of hope sustained them, even as the wider hostage crisis became a lightning rod for political debate and public anguish in Israel.
The last update came just three weeks ago – a tantalizing suggestion that Ori might still be alive. "It really encouraged us," Einav remembers, her voice faltering. "We were sure it would end differently. He was a fighter."
The recovery of Ori's body in a Rafah tunnel this past Saturday, along with five other hostages, has reignited questions about Israel's strategy in Gaza. It also underscores the brutal calculus facing Hamas as IDF forces close in – with devastating consequences for those caught in the middle.