Hannah (Hanchuk) is 76 years old and was born in Kibbutz Ein Carmel as a daughter of Holocaust survivors. She is a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. She is a sister to Hayuta Halevi, a mother of three, and grandmother of six, ages 4 to 22. She has two married daughters, Avital Shay and Carmit Palty-Katzir. Her husband Avraham-Rami (Ramchuk) was murdered in the attack on their kibbutz, and her son Elad was also kidnapped.
Hannah’s husband Rami was born in Hadera, and was active in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, and a member of the Naha”l group that established Kibbutz Nir Oz. Throughout the years in the kibbutz, Hannah played many roles: as caregiver to the children of the Kibbutz, and as night guard for the shared living quarters, and she worked in the clothes warehouse.
Hannah is a warm, giving and kind woman. She has lots of friends surrounding her and is deeply attached to her husband. Together they were called “Hanchuk and Ramchuk”. In the kibbutz, the children enjoy the hugs, caresses and warmth they receive from Hannah. She’s known in the kibbutz as “candies for kids” because she distributes sweets to the children in the kibbutz. Her grandchildren explain she can’t say no to a child.
During previous tense times of missile attacks on Nir Oz, Hannah and Rami refused to leave and stayed in the kibbutz (despite it being only 500 meters from the border fence). Hannah uses a walker due to balance and mobility problems and requires life-saving medication due to her medical condition.
On October 7th 2023, when the missile attacks started, Hannah and Rami moved to their safe room. They heard the voices of terrorists They tried to secure themselves within the room but the terrorists managed to break in. Rami’s dead body was found in the house hours later. Hannah was led on foot by the terrorists to the border with Gaza, wearing only socks and her pajamas. Since she didn’t have her walker with her, she fell down and appeared in a media video being driven away on a motorcycle. Her phone was tracked and it was reported that by 12:30pm on the same day, Hannah was already inside Gaza.
