Noa Argamani tells UN Security Council the hostages feel ‘abandoned by the world,’ pleads for full deal

Noa Argamani, who was rescued from Hamas captivity in June 2024, addresses the UN Security Council’s monthly session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks its members to push for the release of the remaining hostages.

“I was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Nova music festival with my partner, Avinatan Or,” she begins, taking out a photo of her partner, who is still in Gaza. “We were taken by force into Gaza, we were held in total fear, living in a nightmare.”

After 8 months in captivity, I was rescued by the Israeli soldiers. Being here today is a miracle.,” she says. “But I’m here today to tell you we have no time. As I speak, there are still 63 hostages living in a nightmare.

“Our lives cannot go [on] without them,” she tells the council. “The deal must go on in full… my partner and many other hostages are only supposed to be released in the second stage of the deal.”

Pleading for the international community’s assistance, Argamani says she is talking about “innocent people taken from their beds, from a dance party, from their simple lives, into a pure hell.”

“You don’t need me to tell you about 9-month-old Kfir, and 4-year-old Ariel and their mother Shiri. A mother and her babies were brutally murdered in captivity. The crime is unthinkable. We cannot imagine it. But it happened,” she says.

“I know what it [feels like] to be left behind, or watch other hostages being released to their families,” says Argamani, who was one of the few women not released during the weeklong truce in November 2023.

While I was in Gaza, I was held with two little girls – Hila Rotem and Emily Hand. At that time, Emily was 8 years old and Hila was 12,” she recounts. “I had to be brave, not only for myself but also for the girls.”

“Hila and Emily were both released in the first hostage deal after 50 days. I watched them, and two other women who had been with me in captivity go home to their families as I stayed behind…I can’t even begin to explain the feeling of being the one who was left behind.”

“But I can tell you this is exactly how the hostages are feeling today. Abandoned by the world,” Argamani tells the council.

She recounts how, later in her captivity she was held with Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, both of whom were killed in Gaza —  Sharabi in an IDF strike, and Svirsky by their captors.

“We were in a warzone, 24/7. It was terrifying, every day, every second,” she says, recalling how she heard Sharabi scream, and then fall silent after the IDF strike rained rubble down on them.

“From that moment, I was by myself,” says Noa.

She appeals for the council to “work for the light and against the darkness,” and warns that, “Without immediate action, many more innocent people will be killed.”

“What kept me alive in captivity, and until this very moment, was something my mother used to tell me: ‘Always be kind.’

“So in this forum, let me end with that,” Noa says. “Be kind to each other, and please, bring all of them home now.”