Noa Argamani

On 7 October 2023, Noa Argamani ( he, נועה ארגמני), an Israeli woman, was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. In one of the first Hamas videos released of the massacre, she was seen being taken away on a motorcycle as she yelled, "Don't kill me!" Her arms were outstretched toward her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who was also kidnapped. The footage of her kidnapping became a symbol of the hostage crisis and led to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages".

In March 2024, Argamani’s Chinese-born mother Liora, who was suffering from late-stage brain cancer, made a public plea to see her daughter one last time. She urged US President Joe Biden to help secure her daughter's release. The family had indications that Argamani was still alive, as she had appeared in a Hamas video released in January 2024.

On 8 June 2024, after 245 days in captivity, Argamani and three other hostages were rescued from Gaza in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police. She was subsequently reunited with her family, although her mother died three weeks after her rescue.

Noa Argamani

Noa Argamani was born in Israel on 12 October 1997 to Yaakov and Liora Argamani. She is their only child. Her mother Liora Argamani, also known as Li Chunhong in Chinese, was from the Chinese city of Wuhan and was a former national of China. Despite Argamani being born in Israel, after her abduction it was incorrectly reported that she is a Chinese-Israeli born in Beijing. Reproduced in She is a student at Ben Gurion University where she met her boyfriend of two years, Avinatan Or. She previously served in the Israeli military.

Kidnapping

On 7 October 2023, as part of the initial incursion of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, Hamas militants crossed from the Gaza Strip into Israel and attacked the Supernova Sukkot Gathering music festival, an open-air music festival in the western Negev desert. Argamani was attending the festival with her boyfriend Avinatan Or and was shown in a now viral video along with Or being captured by Hamas militants. The Israeli government "condemned the video as psychological warfare propaganda." Her friend Amit Parparia indicated that they did not want to believe the video depicted Argamani and Or, but could not deny it as "Its just her face, her clothes and it's her boyfriend."

In the video, Argamani can be heard screaming "Don't kill me! No, no, no!" while being forced onto a motorcycle by members of Hamas. The video also shows Or being restrained by two other men. Or's brother, Moshe, reportedly learned of the video by emergency teams and viewed it before giving his approval for the media to publish it. An additional video of her abduction was released in April 2024, which showed her being forced onto the motorcycle and restrained with her head covered with a black bag. Argamani has been seen in a later footage that appears to show her drinking water in a room in Gaza.

Allegations were raised during an NBC report that Argamani was not abducted by Hamas forces but instead by a supposed mob of Palestinians from Gaza. This theory was posited by anonymous supposed Israeli military officials who stated their reasoning being those filmed abducting Argamani wore no official uniforms and she appeared to have been abducted several hours after the attack.

Media coverage and efforts to release

Argamani's abduction was featured on the front page of 8 October edition of UK's '' Mail on Sunday''. News of Argamani's abduction and her ties to China have been widely reported by international and Chinese media. Her mother Liora has appealed to the Chinese embassy for help in freeing her daughter. Argamani's father Yaakov reportedly indicated that he did not approve of violence to get his daughter freed, saying: "They also have mothers who are crying. The same as it is for us."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Chinese Ambassador Cai Run for Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene to secure the release of Argamani.

On 14 January 2024, Hamas released a video showing Argamani and two male hostages asking Israel to bring them home. The next day, Hamas released another video showing Argamani stating that the two male hostages had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. In an interview after her rescue, Argamani explained she was forced to record that video. The hostages who died were identified as Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky.

In March 2024, Argamani's mother, was suffering from terminal brain cancer, implored United States President Joe Biden to intervene and help bring her daughter home. On 31 May 2024, Hamas released a video featuring the voice of Argamani.

Rescue

At around 11 a.m. on 8 June 2024, Argamani and three other hostages were rescued from two houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, where they were being held by Hamas militants. The Israel Defence Forces, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police jointly carried out the rescue operation, after which the hostages were transported by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center for examination. The hostages were initially reported to be in good medical condition, but subsequent reports cited medical professionals' findings that they were malnourished.

Argamani's rescue coincided with the birthday of her father, Yaakov Argamani. He commented, "What a present I received ... there’s no army like this in the world." The video of their reunion was widely viewed on social media. She spoke with president Isaac Herzog and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon her return to Israel; Netanyahu told her that "we didn't give up on you for a moment." She was then transferred to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center to visit her mother, Liora Argamani, who was being treated there for terminal brain cancer. The facility's CEO described her mother's condition as "complicated and tough" but said he believed that mother and daughter had been able to communicate. Liora Argamani died three weeks later, aged 61. Argamani said she was grateful to have been with her mother at the end of her life and grateful that her father would not have to be alone after his wife's death.

Describing her experience as a hostage, Argamani told medical teams that she had not been held in the tunnels beneath Gaza; instead, she had been moved among four different apartments. At her last apartment, she was held under armed guard. She had occasionally been allowed to go outside, after not seeing "daylight" for 245 days, disguised as a Palestinian woman, but was rarely permitted to shower. According to an interview with Israeli channel News 12, she was required by the family to clean when they wanted. She had learned some Arabic during her time in captivity and had acted as a spokeswoman for other female hostages, who were released during a truce in November 2023.

See also

* Killing of Shani Louk, who was also present at the Re'im music festival
* Kidnapping of Naama Levy
* Kidnapping of Hersh Goldberg-Polin

References

{{2023 Israel–Hamas war

2020s missing person cases
Hostage taking in Israel
Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis
Mass kidnappings in the 2020s
Missing person cases in Israel
October 2023 events in Israel