Liora Argamani, mother of Noa, a Hamas hostage freed a month ago, dies

Liora Argamani, mother of Noa Argamanione of the Hamas hostages freed last month by the Israeli army, has died at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The hospital announced the news, recalling that the woman was terminally ill with brain cancer and that during the eight months of her daughter’s captivity she had launched countless appeals for her release, in the hope of seeing her one last time before dying. Her wish was granted; as the hospital explained in a statement, “Liora spent her last days with her daughter Noa, who returned from captivity, and her closest family.”

Noa was kidnapped by Hamas militants on October 7 and her mother Liora, 61, had immediately publicly appealed for the girl’s release, explaining that she didn’t have much time left to live and that she wanted to see Noa before she died. The woman had given interviews to the media and had also addressed the President of the United States Joe Biden asking him to commit to Noa’s release.

After her release, Noa herself joined the Israeli movement pushing for the release of the hostages: on Saturday evening, during yet another demonstration in Tel Aviv, a video of hers was shown asking the government to reach an agreement to guarantee the release of those remaining in Gaza: “As an only child, as the daughter of a terminally ill mother, the thing that occupied me most during my imprisonment was worrying about my parents“, Noa said, adding that it is “a great privilege to be by my mother’s side, after eight months of uncertainty.”

Noa was rescued on June 8 from an apartment building in central Gaza, along with three other hostages in a nearby building, during an Israeli special forces operation in which at least 210 Palestinians were killed.