Father of hostage Naama Levy says she was held separately from fellow soldiers

Addressing a press conference after the families of five surveillance soldiers held hostage in Gaza release images from the women’s first days in Gaza captivity, Yoni Levy, the father of Naama Levy, says she was held separately from her comrades.

“She wasn’t captured with the other girls, as we saw in the video with the jeep,” he says. “Naama was held for a long period by herself.”

Levy says the “latest information we have” is that Naama is “held in the tunnels and she is alive.”

“Therefore the only way to get her and the other girls out of the tunnels is a deal,” he says. “Not a military operation or anything else — only a deal will get the girls out.”

One image released today shows Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger and Daniella Gilboa sitting on mattresses on the floor of a room.

A separate picture shows Levy with a black eye and a swollen face.

Levy was seen in a video from Gaza on October 7 following her kidnapping with her hands tied and bloodied sweatpants being pushed into a jeep, giving rise to widespread speculation that she had been sexually abused by her abductors.

Levy’s mother Ayelet Levy Shachar says she refused a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accompany him on his upcoming trip to Washington.

“The prime minister asked me to join him on his flight to the US for his speech to Congress, and I explained that I cannot and will not feel comfortable joining him until I see that the negotiations regarding my Naama’s release are completed,” she says.

She urges Netanyahu to meet with them immediately. “This is not the time for trips [to the US]. This is the time to close a deal and return the hostages.,” she says.