Man whose brother is held hostage by Hamas tells of effort to free him

One year ago, Michael Levy was an ordinary father, working at a tech firm where his top priority was getting his three young daughters to school on time.

But on October 7 his quiet life was ripped apart when Hamas stormed the Nova music festival where his brother Or, 33, was partying.

The terrorists executed Or's 32-year-old wife, Einav, - the mother of their three-year old son Almog - in front of his eyes. With her blood still on his face, they kidnapped him into Gaza on October 7 - where he remains.

While the world's gaze has since turned to the horrors unfolding in Gaza, and now Lebanon, for those families whose loved ones were taken that day, time has stood still.

They have been locked in an extraordinary battle each day to do everything they can to return them.

Michael, 41, has turned the world upside down in his quest to bring Or back home and is one of the most travelled relatives of a hostage.

He has held court with presidents, met with over 50 foreign ministers, taken counsel from Condoleezza Rice and prayed with the pope.

Today the father-of-three documents the extraordinary lengths he has gone to fighting for his brother travelling around the capitals of power dozens of times.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE
The never-ending anguish of five mothers whose kidnapped daughters are STILL in clutches of Hamas

He details his full-time battle to mark one year since he was taken – as he hopes the international community will finally help bring Or and the 100 other remaining hostages back home.

'From time to time, I stop and try to think about things that I've done,' Michael tells the Daily Mail. 'They feel normal at the time – and then I think about them and it's not normal in any way.'

For the first days after the terror attack, Or was missing. 'In those days I became an intelligence officer,' says Michael, who lives in Ganei Tikva, near Tel Aviv, with his wife, Hila, 40, a project manager, and their daughters Emma, 10, and seven-year-old twins Mia and Danielle.

He spent every hour tracking his brother's movements, analysing social media videos and contacting anyone who had seen him.

But after eight days the army came to his house and told him Or had been kidnapped.

Footage filmed by the terrorists shows taking him while he is still covered in the blood of his wife who they have just executed.

'It took me a few days to recover from,' says Michael. But, the shy tech firm project manager, decided after a couple of weeks to start talking to the media.

'I decided I will just tell his story to whoever is willing to listen,' he said. 'To make people realise that this is not about war, it's not about Israel, it's not about politics – it's about human beings, like my brother.'

Within a month he was jetting out to New York where he found himself having to field questions broadcast to millions of people on CNN, Fox News and ABC.

'From that moment it was almost constant, almost every week I meet someone that I never thought I'd be able to meet,' he said.

Read More

Heartbroken mother of British woman taken hostage by Hamas makes plea to the nation one year on

Then in December, on another visit to America, he received a phone call asking if he would like to meet the pope.

'I had just landed in New York, I didn't even unpack the suitcase, and flew again to Rome, and then we met the Pope,' he said.

'If it wasn't so sad it would have been an amazing experience. He invited us basically into his living room, the whole thing was so surreal.

'I went to him after to thank him. I showed him a picture of my brother – he took his hand, he put his face on it and he prayed.

'I'm not a religious person, but it was a very emotional moment for me. I really felt it.

'He was very human. I remember, it surprised me how human he was. He was down to earth. He spoke to us as if we are, I wouldn't say friends, but I felt at home.'

Another extraordinary moment came when he met former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

'I grew up knowing the name Condoleezza Rice, knowing that she's one of the strongest people on earth,' says Michael.

'I told her that when I sat in her tiny office. I told her that I'm honoured to sit next to her.

'She was so warm, and it almost felt like she's family. You could tell that the story touched her - she acted like any other mother.

'She was very human and warm, and ask personal questions about me, about my brother - just to try and understand how we live.'

Ms Rice gave Michael advice on people to contact and how to keep the pressure up, promising to do 'everything she can' to raise awareness.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE
Read the letter I hope will reach my daughter alive... soon there will be nothing left of her

Such experiences are almost every day now for Michael, but after each of them he returns to normal life, trying to get through each day with a family at breaking point.

'I don't feel that I'm a normal dad anymore,' he says. 'Even if I am here, I'm not here.'

His greatest fear is that his three-year-old nephew becomes an orphan if his brother is not returned alive.

Asked what motivates him to keep going, Michael says: 'A few months ago I found one of my girls in bed crying and I asked what was wrong. She said she was crying because she didn't know if Or was coming back.

'I told her, "You know I'm doing everything I can to bring him back, right?" She said a sentence that stayed with me and I can't forget it.

'She said, "Daddy, I know that you're going to bring him back." I have also promised my parents that I am going to bring Or back.

'I still don't know how I'm going to do it, I still don't know if I can – I understand that I cannot promise such a thing.

'But I know that I will turn the world upside down to bring him back. I know that I'm going to do it. This is what keeps me motivated.'

To this end, Michael got a tattoo on his hand which says: 'Whatever it takes'. 'I look at it whenever it's difficult,' he says.