Every morning, Lishay Lavi Miran’s young daughters ask her the same two questions: Why is daddy still in Gaza and when is daddy coming home? 

In a desperate attempt to provide answers, Miran spent the past week in New York City — her first time in the U.S. — advocating for the release of her husband, Omri Miran, who was kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and has remained in Hamas captivity for nearly 600 days.   

The family received the first sign of life from Omri in April when Hamas terrorists published a video in which he is seen walking through a tunnel in Gaza. The video was released right around his 48th birthday. “It was difficult to see him in those conditions,” Miran told Jewish Insider during her visit to the states, which concluded on Tuesday. The “exhausted” man in the video was a contrast to the guy known for having “the biggest smile in the world and spark in his eyes,” as Miran describes her husband. 

Miran, who always dreamed of her first trip to America — but never could have imagined the dire circumstances under which it would come — participated in several meetings in New York to advocate for the release of the 58 hostages that remain held in Gaza. Together with other families of hostages and released survivors visiting the States, including Keith and Aviva Siegel, Miran met with government officials and Jewish leaders. Keith Siegel, who was released from Gaza in February in a U.S.-brokered deal, was at one point held in a Hamas tunnel together with Omri.  

Miran’s message to the American Jewish community is that its advocacy efforts have provided a “warming sense of hope.” 

“We know a lot of people are with us and we need you to continue telling our stories until the last one comes home,” she said. “Time is running out, at any second something can happen” to the remaining hostages in Gaza, where Israel launched an expanded ground operation this week. “We need to seal a deal,” Miran said.   

“We came so that everyone will remember there are still 58 hostages over there,” Miran, 40, told JI. About a third of those hostages are believed to be alive. More than a year and a half since Oct. 7, she understands “why people have stopped paying attention, it’s really a long time.” 

But back in Israel, two little girls haven’t turned their attention away for a second. Roni was 2 when her father was kidnapped and Alma was only 6 months old at the time. “Alma just knows him from photos and stories that Roni and I tell her. Every time she sees a photo she says, ‘I want to see daddy,’” said Miran, who remains displaced from the kibbutz.

“Roni remembers everything,” she continued, including witnessing Hamas kidnap her father when hundreds of terrorists infiltrated Nahal Oz. 

Miran describes herself as “the careerist in the family.” But after the Oct. 7 attacks, she left her job as a director of pre-academic programs at Sapir College and is a full-time advocate for the hostages. 

“For Omri, the most important thing is being a father. He stays at home with our daughters, takes them to school, that’s what he likes to do most,” she reflected.

“Omri is a survivor,” Miran said. “I know he is going to hear again the word ‘daddy.’”