Freed hostage Noa Argamani, 26, didn’t see sunlight for 245 gruelling days before daring Israeli special forces rescue
FREED Israeli hostage Noa Argamani saw sunlight for the first time in 245 days after being rescued in a daring Israeli special forces mission.
The brave 26-year-old was trapped in Hamas captivity for over eight months ever since she was ruthlessly snatched from the Nova music festival on the gut-wrenching October 7 massacre.
Noa was one of four hostages saved on Saturday in a daring Israeli rescue mission as she was reunited with her overjoyed family who described her as still being in “shock”.
She was found in the Nuseirat area in Gaza being held in a small child’s bedroom that was surrounded by armed guards.
Noa revealed her captors were a “well-to-do” family but forced her to live a horror life in darkness after being banned from ever seeing sunlight.
She was only allowed to leave a closely monitored room at night dressed as an Arab woman so she could be sneaked away from any Israeli forces patrolling a war-torn Gaza, she said.
A relative of Noa told reporters the military had banged on the door of where she was being held and yelled that they had come to rescue her.
Asaf Shaibi said: “She told me a little. It was 10am and they banged on the door and shouted ‘It’s the IDF and we’ve come to rescue you.”
Noa was saved alongside Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
They are all being kept at Sheba Medical Center, near Tel Aviv, for the time being but are said to be in “good medical condition”.
A beaming Noa was pictured with her dad Yaakov inside the hospital where they hope she can return home in the coming days.
Yaakov said: “I told her it doesn’t matter when, what, where, we’re going to be with you.
“We are not going to leave her – she is going to be with us in every moment.”
Noa’s close pals were also allowed to welcome back the symbol of Hamas brutality when they saw her on Saturday.
Friend Amir Moadi, 29, described Noa as “smiling and very happy” during his visit.
She told us on the phone before we saw her, ‘I’m coming home.’ When you hear it from her, all our hearts melted
Amir Moadi
He continued: “She’s good – mentally good – and healthy but Noa lost a lot of friends on October 7. I think it will take time to understand everything. It feels like she’s in shock.
“She told us on the phone before we saw her, ‘I’m coming home.’ When you hear it from her, all our hearts melted.”
The start of Noa’s nightmare was caught in horrific footage as she abducted between two men on a motorbike at the festival.
She can be heard screaming “don’t kill me”, in the gut-wrenching clip.
Noa also saw her terminally ill mother, Liora, when she safely arrived in Israel after being transported away by a military helicopter.
Liora has stage-four brain cancer and has been vocal over her fears that she might’ve never seen her daughter again if she wasn’t saved.
But, Yaakov explained that the meeting between the pair was just as upsetting as it was heartwarming.
He said: “Unfortunately her mother is in a very difficult condition. They met, but it was very difficult.”
Noa has also spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since being saved.
THE RESCUE OPERATION
Israeli forces described the heroic mission where the four hostages were saved as smooth despite Hamas claiming it was a deadly assault.
A firefight was said to have broken out between the Hamas captors and the Israeli special forces as they battled to keep the hostages alive while eliminating any terrorists.
Hamas claimed at least 274 Palestinians were killed during the rescue mission that blitzed the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Hamas has not said how many of those were combatants.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari admitted their forces came under heavy fire but strongly denied the high number of casualties.
He said his commandos working responded to the sounds of gunfire by firing “from the air and from the street”.
Half of hamas WIPED OUT since October 7
By Jessica Baker, Foreign News Reporter
RUTHLESS militant group Hamas has lost half its members since it began its assault on Israel and murdered 1,200 civilians on October 7.
The terrorist organisation has reportedly been left with no choice but to rely on hit-and-run insurgent tactics to fend off Israeli forces.
Hamas, which rules the densely-populated enclave of Gaza, has been reduced to between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters, according to three senior US officials familiar with battlefield developments.
The group was estimated to have had 20,000 to 25,000 members before it launched its unprecedented attack on Israel last year.
Members of the terror group are now largely relying on ambushes and improvised bombs to hit Israeli targets instead of engaging in sustained battles with Israeli forces.
The shift in tactics comes as Israel’s military closes in on Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza near the border of Egypt where Israel says Hamas militants have been hiding.
Terrorists are believed by Israel to be trying to conceal themselves among civilians, seeking shelter in places such as schools.
Hagari added: “We know about under 100 [Palestinian] casualties. I don’t know how many of them are terrorists.”
The IDF said the four hostages were being held by terrorists in the homes of Gaza families in two Hamas-controlled buildings.
Hamas has previously been accused of using civilians as human shields.
As an Israeli special forces commander was also killed during the operation, a police statement said.
Gazan paramedics and residents said the assault killed scores of people and left mangled bodies of men, women and children strewn around a marketplace and a mosque.
There are 116 hostages left in the coastal enclave, according to Israeli tallies – including at least 40 who have been declared dead in absentia.
The spokesperson for Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, said some hostages were killed during the rescue operation.
Hamas had earlier said it still held a large number of hostages.