'We Were Naive': Israeli Ex-Hostage Shoshan Haran Reflects on Hamas Attack, 50 Days in Captivity

Israeli former hostage Shoshan Haran has said that she and her community were "naive" about Hamas before the October 7, 2023 attack, acknowledging that the group had been explicit about its intentions but that residents of Kibbutz Be'eri did not truly believe they wanted to kill them all. In an interview with FRANCE 24's Tête à Tête program, Haran reflected on the community's pre-war ties with Gaza even as she described the brutality of the attack that shattered her life.

Haran, an agronomist and founder of the NGO Fair Planet, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 50 days. She spoke to FRANCE 24 from Durham, North Carolina, where she now lives, as her memoir "Mission in Captivity" is released in English. Her account offers a rare window into both the human relationships that once existed across the Gaza border and the trauma of captivity.

"When I say they, I mean Hamas, with their declarations and their speeches and their writings," Haran said, explaining that despite the group's openly stated aims, residents of the kibbutz did not grasp the danger before the attack. She described how people from Gaza had worked in the kibbutz, and how many of its residents had driven sick Gazan children to Israeli hospitals for treatment — a reminder of the connections that existed before the war.

During her 50 days in captivity, Haran was held alongside her daughter, her sister-in-law and their children. She said she quickly came to understand that she was "on a mission" as the liaison between her family and their captors. Drawing on books she had read by Holocaust survivors, she held on to one central lesson: not to show weakness. "By body language and eye contact, I was able to kind of demand respect," she told FRANCE 24.

It was only after her release on November 25, 2023, that Haran learned the fate of other family members. Her husband Avshalom and her sister had not been abducted — they were murdered on October 7. Her son-in-law Tal, who was held in Gaza tunnels for 505 days, later relayed to her Avshalom's final words: "It was a pleasure to live." Haran said she now misses her husband "every day. Every minute, every second."

Now rebuilding her life in another kibbutz, Haran also addressed accusations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, calling them "a lie." Her remarks come amid heightened international scrutiny of Israel's military campaign in the enclave and ongoing debate over the conduct of the war. The interview reflects the deeply personal dimension of a conflict that has consumed the region for years.

Haran's account of her community's pre-war relationship with Gaza is notable given the scale of the violence that followed. Before October 7, thousands of Gazans held Israeli work permits, and medical cooperation between the enclave and Israeli hospitals was routine. For residents of border communities like Be'eri, those ties formed part of daily life — a reality Haran said left many unprepared for the attack.

The interview also touches on the broader Israeli reckoning over intelligence and policy failures surrounding October 7. In recent months, reports have emerged suggesting that regional leaders, including Egypt and the UAE, warned Israel of an impending Hamas attack in the days before it occurred. The Israeli parliament has backed a first step toward a formal inquiry into the failures of that day, a process that remains politically fraught.

Haran's memoir, "Mission in Captivity," documents her experience in Gaza and her family's ordeal. Her decision to tell her story publicly places her among a group of former hostages whose testimonies have shaped public understanding of the attack and its aftermath. The book's English release extends her account to a wider international audience at a time when divisions over the war remain sharp.

Her description of demanding respect from her captors through body language and eye contact speaks to questions about how hostages endure captivity and maintain a sense of agency. Survivors' accounts often emphasize small psychological strategies — routine, memory, and refusal to appear broken — as essential to survival. Haran's reliance on lessons from Holocaust literature underscores the transmission of memory across generations of Jewish trauma.

The fate of her husband and sister, murdered rather than abducted, reflects the chaos of October 7, when Hamas fighters killed roughly 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. The attack triggered Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and displaced much of the enclave's population.

Haran's son-in-law Tal's 505 days in captivity — far longer than her own 50 — illustrates the uneven and protracted nature of hostages' experiences. A series of ceasefires and negotiations has secured the release of some captives, while others remain in Gaza, and the issue continues to dominate Israeli domestic politics and international mediation efforts.

In calling genocide accusations against Israel "a lie," Haran situates herself firmly within a contested debate. South Africa has brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice alleging genocide, which Israel strongly denies. Her comments reflect a perspective common among many Israelis who view the war as a defensive response to October 7 rather than a campaign targeting Palestinians as a group.

For Haran, the personal and the political are inseparable. Her reflections combine grief for her husband, gratitude for survival, and a defense of Israel's position. As her memoir reaches English-language readers, her testimony adds another voice to the historical record of October 7 — one that insists on both the naivety that preceded the attack and the resolve she summoned in captivity.

Haran's concluding sentiment — missing her husband constantly — captures the enduring cost of the attack for families in Israel's border communities. Two years after her release, her interview with FRANCE 24 shows how survivors continue to process loss while engaging in the public arguments that the war has provoked, from questions of responsibility to the meaning of justice.