Bar Kupershtein is an Israeli man who was abducted by Hamas on October 7th 2023 while serving as a paramedic and security guard at the Supernova music festival. Kupershtein, who was 21 at the time of his abduction, stayed behind to care for the wounded until the last moment when he was taken hostage.
Bar Kupershtein is the eldest of five brothers and one sister and was raised in Holon, Israel. He was working as a guard and paramedic at the Nova Music festival. And up until his abduction Kupershtein had been financially supporting his mother, Julie, his father, Tal, and his four younger siblings.[1] Tal Kuperstein, Bar Kupershtein's father suffered a cerebral incident during an operation following a car accident before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, leading to his disability.[2] His father, a paramedic, was severely injured three years prior to the attacks when he spotted a car accident on the side of the road and stopped to help. He suffered a stroke and remained disabled, using a wheelchair.[3] Tal made an effort to learn how to talk again after his destabilizing stroke in order to be able to advocate for his son's release from captivity.[4]
Kidnapping on October 7, 2023
Bar Kupershtein with his paramedic background and was working at the festival to support his siblings and his disabled father. When Hamas terrorists launched a massive surprise assault on Israel on October 7, Bar Kuperstein, 21 at the time of the attack, stayed behind to care for the wounded until the last moment — when he was abducted and taken in to Gaza.[3] When the Hamas rockets first landed, Kuperstein told his mother that he was packing up his things and coming back home, but instead, he stayed to help the injured. "He was the one who evacuated the wounded under fire to save lives at the Nova party. He was the one who went back again and again, just to save one more person,” Kupershtein's brother has been quoted as saying in an interview with the Knesset Committee.[5][6] Kupershtein's family was able to geolocate Kuperstein’s telephone at 8 a.m. on October 7. Several hours later, they found a graphic video and photographs on Telegram of Kuperstein being tied up on the ground. [3]
Captivity
In a interview following his release from Gaza on October 13th 2025, freed hostage Bar Kupershtein described the psychological warfare and physical abuse he endured in captivity. Torture included intentional starvation. “I remember there were days when there was food for them, and we had none. They just didn’t bring any for us,” Kupershtein has said since his release. Kupershtein also noted a difference in their [the hostages] physical conditions compared to their Hamas captors. Noting in the interview that his captors did not eat in front of them, but one could tell from their weight and bodies.“We were getting smaller, and they were getting bigger,” he said.[7]
A week after his capture, his kidnappers took him into a room and tortured him. "After a week, I remember they took me to their room, tied me up, of course. When I entered, I got two hard slaps to the face, real ones. I fell to the floor immediately. They dragged me by my legs across the whole room, stomping on me and humiliating me as much as they could," he said to KAN, the Israeli Public Broadcasting corporation. [7]
During his captivity, adult family members of Kupershtein told his younger siblings, Dvir, Or, Hila, and Yonatan, and other children in the family, that "we expect Bar to come back at any moment and we have to try to live normally." The family also leaned heavily on traditional Jewish religious practice during this time, and started a lot of religious activities, including reciting Psalms, studying Torah and praying. This included a prayer service held at the Western Wall on January 10, 2025, led by the chief rabbis of Israel.[1]
Release
Kupershtein was released from Hamas captivity along with 19 other surviving hostages October 13th 2025 after 738 days in captivity.[8]
Post-release activities
On October 30, 2025, Kupershtein led a mass tefillin event as a thank you for those who advocated for his release. “I want all of you to put on tefillin together with me—my dream while in captivity was to put on tefillin, and we’ll do it for the release of all our brothers who are still there,”said on to an audience that gathered at Hostages Square in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. according to Hebrew-language outlet Kikar Hashabat.[9][10]
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