Former Israeli Hostage Shoshan Haran to Release Memoir on Gaza Captivity

Former Israeli hostage Shoshan Haran is releasing a memoir, Captive on a Mission, offering the first full account of her captivity in Gaza alongside members of her family. The book will be published in Hebrew on January 18 by Yediot Achronot.

Haran, an agriculturalist and president of the nonprofit Fair Planet, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the attack on October 7th. She was taken to Gaza with her daughter Adi, her young grandchildren Naveh and Yahel including a three-year-old girl, her sister-in-law Sharon, and Sharon’s daughter Noam. Her son-in-law, Tal Shoham, was abducted separately.

“In the battered car into which the terrorists shoved us, bound, terrified and furious, I already understood: My paradise had turned into hell. The idyll turned into tragedy,” Haran writes, according to Ynet.

“But I also knew that inside the inferno awaiting us in captivity, I would do everything possible to bring my loved ones home safely. And in that, I succeeded with courage, resourcefulness and imagination,” she continues.

Until the early morning of October 7, Haran’s life in Be’eri was defined by family and professional fulfillment. Sirens began at 6:29 a.m. After four hours sheltering in a safe room, she and her relatives were forced into Gaza. For 50 days, the women and children were held under threats from Hamas terrorists, the book introduces.

They were released on November 26, 2023, as part of a hostage deal. Only after her release did Haran learn the full extent of the devastation. Her husband Avshalom had been murdered, along with her sister Lilach, her brother-in-law Eviatar, and their caregiver Paul. About 100 residents of Kibbutz Be’eri were killed in the attack.

Tal Shoham remained in captivity for 505 days and was released in February 2025 as part of a later terrorist-hostage swap deal.

The publisher describes Captive on a Mission as “a story of physical and psychological survival, with death lurking at every moment and in every place, and of determination to look directly at pure evil, revealed through long conversations with the captors.”

“It is also a document accompanying the struggle to bring home all the hostages, describing the depth of hatred embedded in Gazan society and calling on the free world to awaken and act against a murderous ideology that endangers its very existence,” the publisher adds.

Following her return, Haran co-founded ReHome, an initiative supporting rehabilitation for survivors of the October 7 attacks, and serves on the advisory body of Hostage Aid, which advocates for the release of hostages worldwide. In June, she received an honorary doctorate from the Open University in recognition of her public work.