Ofer Calderon's 54th birthday falls on Monday, but instead of celebrating it at a picnic with his four children, he is spending it in a dark tunnel with limited oxygen in the Gaza Strip. Last year, days before the release of two of his children who were kidnapped with him from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Erez and Sahar, Ofer marked his 53rd birthday, and knew that his gift was the return home of his two children.
"Ofer is a very warm, very homely type," says Ofer's cousin, Eyal Calderon. "He is a very present father, and this is not a cliché. He has four amazing children and he is present in the lives of each and every one of them. Yesterday, his daughter Gaya said in Hostage Square ahead of Ofer's birthday that every time they celebrated one of the family members, they started the day with a cake waiting on the table, balloons and gifts from each. Right after that they went for a picnic. Ofer is a person of outdoor spaces and of nature: riding his bike with his team, piloting airplanes. This is a man for whom the most antithetical thing is being in the depths of the tunnels of hell."
Eyal added that Ofer's captivity is "the opposite of what he represents and is normal for him. Ofer is the type of person, even if you haven't spoken to them in a year, within a moment of conversation you will not feel a difference. Even if there is a distance between the conversations, the conversation flows instantly. When he enters the room he immediately smiles and you don't understand why. He spreads light in the room, lightens the atmosphere. He's not just a 'hostage', he's a living and present person, and is so noticeable wherever he is. I'm sure he behaves like this in the tunnels as well."
What did the returned hostages tell you about him?
"We know from all the hostages who returned and were with him in captivity that he helped them a lot and helped them maintain optimism. Just a few days after Sahar and Erez were released, Shani Goren was brought to the area where he was in the tunnels. He seemed optimistic, he said to her, 'I will prepare food for you from what I have here ', adding that he was sure that he would leave in two or three days. It was on his 53rd birthday that he told Sahar when she was taken from him 'Fight for me, I don't want to die in the tunnels.' This is a girl who is now 17 years old and has been carrying this phrase around for a whole year. A girl her age should not hear any of this from one of her parents, and certainly not carry it around so much. She lives with it and we live with the command from heaven that he bequeathed to her and to us. We fight and do not stop for a moment, our duty is simply to return him as soon as possible."
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Sahar Calderon after her release from Hamas caprivity
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
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"They haven't even started the rehabilitation process. They are still in a state of temporary survival, they won't be able to do it until Ofer returns," Eyal says of the hostage's children. "They were released on the last day of hostage releases and were under the stress of 'yes or no'. We knew they were supposed to be on the list and I was sure that Ofer would also return in a week or so and we would celebrate him with them. Our decision-makers do not understand what the return of the hostages means to our society, to our communities. They are talking about all kinds of security risks, but they pose the biggest risk, which is the integrity of Israeli society."
What will you wish for Ofer?
"Ofer - I wish you would read or hear or see the energies we are sending you on this birthday. Know that we are not giving up for a moment, I swore to your children that I would not give up and I want you to know that we are all a united family and joined together as one strong fist, and we are doing everything and will continue to do everything to bring you back to us and to your loving children, Sahar, Erez, Gaya, Rotem and all your loving family. You will return, recover and help in the rehabilitation of all of us. We will spread your wide and bright light in the world until you return, and you must return, because the world needs the warmth and cheerfulness and joy you spread. You just have to keep surviving and we are on our way to you and we will get there."