Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Friday, November 17, 2023

Mother of soldier whose body was recovered from Gaza: ‘We won’t forget or forgive’

17 November 2023, 2:11 pm 2 Edit

At the funeral of Cpl. Noa Marciano, her mother Adi, says her daughter always put others first, “with you being last, if at all.”

Marciano served as an IDF border observer at the Nahal Oz IDF base when it was overrun by Hamas during its murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7. She was kidnapped into Gaza and Hamas recorded a video of her while still alive. However, her body was found by IDF troops in northern Gaza and returned to Israel yesterday.

Sobbing, Adi says: “In our last phone call [as the attack unfolded] you didn’t say ‘What will happen to me, how will I survive?’ but rather ‘What will happen to the new observers who only arrived two days ago?’ That’s what you were thinking of in those moments of terror.”

She says “Everyone is hurting over your leaving… You left many touches of love behind. You are resting now, but we will not stop. We won’t forget or forgive.”

She thanks “all the soldiers who were there and brought Noa back to me.”