Tel Aviv, 8 June 2024 – Noa Argamani, one of the Israeli hostages who were the symbol of the Hamas attack on 7 October, she was freed by an Israeli army raid and the Shin Bet together with three others, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv, all kidnapped at Supernova music festival near the southern community of Reim. The image of Noa, torn from her boyfriend’s arms and taken away by a militiaman on the back seat of a motorcycle, it went around the world.
Noa Argamani taken away on a motorcycle
The hug with the father. The wait of the sick mother
The 25-year-old was finally able to embrace the father Yaakov on the bus that took her to Tel Hashomer hospital for checks after her release. But the greatest wait is for the mother Liora, suffering from a brain tumor and who in recent months has always expressed the desire to live long enough to hug his daughter again.
The Great Love with Avinatan Or
Noa was born in Israel on October 12, 1997 and is an only child. Her mother Liora is originally from Wuhan and her name in Chinese is Li Chunhong. Nooa is a student at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva. There she met her boyfriend two years ago Avinatan Or aged 30, electrical engineer graduated from Ben-Gurion University. Noa already had plans to move in with him in Tel Aviv.
Avinatan Or, Noa Argamani’s boyfriend, blocked by militiamen while she is taken away
Kidnapped at the Supernova festival
Both had gone to the Supernova festival in the western Negev desert when there was an incursion by Hamas militants. The two, we learn from The Times of Israel, they remained hidden for several hours trying to call for help. They managed to share their location via cell phone and inform friends and family of the ongoing attack. Noa’s father immediately tried to contact them, but without success. Then a few hours later Avinatan called him saying that they were fine and that he would call him back 10 minutes later, but that call never came.
The symbolic video: Noa taken away on the motorcycle
On the same day, the video appeared on Telegram with Noa forcibly loaded onto a motorbike and taken away while she shouted in fear: “Don’t kill me! No, no, no” holding out his arms towards his comrade blocked by three terrorists. The Israeli government had condemned the video as propaganda and psychological warfare.
Doubts about the kidnappers
But viewing the video some Israeli officers doubtful that the student had been kidnapped by Hamas, underlining that the attackers were not wearing official uniforms and looked more like Palestinian civilians from Gaza, furthermore Noa was kidnapped several hours after the militants’ assault.
The liberation with a blitz
At the end of May the Qassam Brigadesthe military wing of Hamas, had published a video in which yes he clearly heard Noa’s voice. The girl’s family asked that the video not be released in Israel. Until today when the IDF with a blitz in center of the Gaza Strip freed the student together with three other prisoners. The operation was conducted by Israeli special forces simultaneously against two sites in Nuseirat, eliminating about fifteen militiamen. Noa Argamani was found in one, while the other three hostages were found in the second hideout.
