Who is Noa Argamani, the girl kidnapped on a motorbike by Hamas last 7 October
The student taken prisoner at the rave in the Negev desert had become one of the most notorious faces of the crisis
2' min read
2' min read
Among the hostages freed on 8 June 2024 by the Israeli army was Noa Argamani, 25, who had appeared in a video on 7 October as Hamas terrorists took her away on a motorbike amidst her screams: 'Don't kill me'. Those images became the symbol of the Islamic faction's attack.
More recently, she was seen in another Hamas propaganda video. Her mother Liora, seriously ill with cancer, had made a desperate plea to be allowed to see her again.
Noa's mother is a cancer patient
.Noa Argamani had been kidnapped last October at the 'Supernova' rave in the Negev desert. The student had become one of the most notorious faces of the crisis - which does not end today with her release, along with three other people - after the dissemination of the video in which she was taken away by Hamas on the back seat of a motorbike, snatched from the hands of her boyfriend. A ten-second clip in which the girl is seen in tears.
Noa's mother is a cancer patient, with a brain tumour. Her greatest wish in recent months has been to live long enough to see her daughter at home. Today, pictures of Noa's embrace with her father Yaakov were released.
The other hostages freed today are Almog Meir aged 21, Andrey Kozlov 27 and Shlomi Ziv 40. They were all taken by Hamas on 7 October at the Nova Festival. They return to freedom after eight months.
Noa's first words free
.'I am very excited, I have not spoken Hebrew for so long'. These were the first words Noa Argamani spoke in her conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu after her release from Gaza. "Not for a minute," Netanyahu replied, "did we stop thinking about you and did not give up. I don't know if you believed it but we did not give up."
