Citing rescued hostage, captive soldier’s mom says women were held as slaves
Mothers share accounts of their children’s captivity at conference, with one saying girls forced to clean and cook
The mother of Liri Albag, a 19-year-old female soldier abducted on October 7, shared information Friday about her daughter that she said came from freed female hostages and also matched the account of Noa Argamani, who was rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza last week.
“As Noa Argamani said, they were slaves, and so were the [female soldiers], including Liri. They cleaned the yard, did dishes, and prepared food that they were not allowed to eat,” Shira Albag told a conference of female municipal leaders in Ganei Tikva, south of Tel Aviv.
Shira Albag said that as far as she knew from accounts, her daughter was initially moved between some four homes, among them a luxury villa, and was only allowed to shower a month into her captivity. After 40 days, according to Albag, Liri was moved into Hamas’s network of underground tunnels, where there was little food and no light, and the water was salty and rationed.
Argamani was rescued in an Israeli security forces operation on Saturday, along with Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov, who were held separately from her.
Meir Jan’s mother Orit Meir also spoke at the conference on Friday, sharing information about her son’s conditions in captivity.
“Almog was in a wealthy home. He received food once or twice a day, not always tasty, not healthy, but he didn’t starve,” said Meir. “He also had company: Shlomi and Andrey, who were rescued with him. He wasn’t alone.”
Liri Albag was one of five female surveillance soldiers kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military installation during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take over 250 hostages, mainly civilians.
Three of the other surveillance soldiers’ mothers also spoke at the event on Friday: Meirav Berger, mother of Agam Berger; Orly Gilboa, mother of Daniella Gilboa; and Ayelet Levy Shahar, mother of Naama Levy.
Orly Gilboa said little was known about her daughter and another of the kidnapped soldiers, Karina Ariev, who she said were held separately from the others.
“One of the Thai [workers who were kidnapped] who got out of there said he saw them in transit, they were covered from head to toe,” said Gilboa.
A video taken by Hamas of the abduction of five female soldiers was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in May. All five are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
At the end of Friday’s conference, members of the female municipal leaders’ forum signed a statement calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately accept a ceasefire-for-hostages deal that is on the table.
According to Washington, Israel has accepted the latest version of that deal, while Hamas has not.
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — though many are not alive.
