The four captives who were rescued by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Saturday had been taken from a desert rave near the border during Hamas’ extensive attack into Israel on Oct. 7. One of them had become a symbol of the ongoing hostage crisis that is still ongoing.
Noa Argamani, 26, was featured in a series of videos documenting their harrowing ordeal.
In the first video, captured by the attackers, she is seen being forced onto a motorbike by several men after being taken with her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, whose location is still unknown. “Don’t kill me!” she cried out with one arm extended, the other restrained.
In another video released by Hamas in mid-January, she looked frail and spoke – most likely under duress – about other hostages being killed in airstrikes months into Israel’s massive offensive.
Then, in a third video, she was shown in family photos in the background as her mother, a Chinese immigrant to Israel with stage four brain cancer, appealed to her captors to release her only child so she could see her before she passed away.
Israel at War
Israel rescues 4 hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7
5:17 AM, Jun 08, 2024
On Saturday, after eight months of captivity, Israeli forces rescued Argamani and three other men who had all been abducted from the Tribe of Nova music festival, where Hamas and other militants killed over 350 people in the deadliest massacre in Israel’s history.
The rescue mission took place during a major Israeli air and ground offensive in central Gaza that resulted in hundreds of Palestinian casualties, including at least 94 deaths on Saturday alone.
Less information is available publicly about the other three hostages who were rescued on Saturday.
Almog Meir Jan, 22, from a small town near Tel Aviv, had completed his military service three months prior, according to the Times of Israel. A forum established by the families of the hostages mentioned that he was supposed to begin a job at a tech company the day after the attack.
Andrey Kozlov, 27, was working as a security guard at the festival. He immigrated to Israel by himself a year and a half earlier, and his mother came to the country after Oct. 7, as reported by Israeli media.
In a conversation with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog after his release, Kozlov spoke a mix of English and Hebrew. He humorously mentioned that his Hebrew had improved during captivity, saying, “I had a lot of practice with my new friends,” referring to his fellow hostages.
Shlomi Ziv, 41, worked as a security guard and had attended the party with two friends who were both killed, according to the Times of Israel. The hostage family forum revealed that Ziv and his wife, Miren, had been living in a farming community in northern Israel for the past 17 years.
Argamani, Meir Jan, and Ziv all celebrated birthdays while in captivity. When their rescue was announced, the army initially provided their ages at the time they were abducted.
Argamani had been in a relationship with Or for about two years after meeting at Ben-Gurion University in her hometown of Beersheba. They were planning to move in together in Tel Aviv. Or’s mother mentioned that her son had studied electrical engineering and had been hired by the tech company Nvidia.
Yonatan Levi, a friend of Argamani, described her as intelligent, adventurous, and fond of parties and travel, studying computer science. He met her at a diving course in Eilat on the Red Sea and remembered her seeking his help with insurance claims for her mother’s care a few months before her abduction.
During the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people and captured about 250 others, including men, women, children, and elderly individuals. Over 36,700 Palestinians have died since the war began, according to local health authorities, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Over 100 captives, predominantly women and children, were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire last year.
Negotiations for a similar agreement to free the remaining hostages have been ongoing for months, with Hamas demanding an end to the conflict and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting on “complete victory.” U.S. President Joe Biden is advocating for global support for a phased ceasefire proposal that would secure the release of all hostages in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Recently, Hamas released an audio recording, purportedly of Argamani, urging Israelis to rally for the government to secure the hostages’ return through another deal.
Israeli authorities estimate that the militants are still holding approximately 120 hostages, with 43 confirmed dead. Survivors include about 15 women, two children under the age of 5, and two men in their 80s.
