From a young age, Yotam faced health challenges, both physical and mental. He didn’t have an easy life, yet he woke up every day and chose life. On the morning of the massacre, Yotam was kidnapped to Gaza. After seventy days in captivity, he managed to escape along with two other hostages, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz. For several days, the three did everything they could to be discovered and identified by the IDF, acting with resourcefulness and courage. Yet tragically they were killed by friendly fire in a terrible mistake. Yotam was twenty-nine years old when he died. Yotam’s mother, Iris Haim, became a model of nobility when she sent a moving message to the soldiers who fired the gun, a message that has been etched on the wall of history.
