Liri Albag gives a thumbs-up sign to a large crowd of Hamas operatives and supporters, alongside fellow Israeli hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, before they are released by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza City, January 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri was released from captivity in Gaza on Saturday, along with three other abducted female soldiers, says Hamas operatives told them ahead of the handover ceremony the terror group was arranging that they would be required to speak from the stage. Instead, he said, the four decided to make “victory gestures” and subvert the Hamas ceremony.
Interviewed on Radio 103, Eli Albag says Liri told him that Hamas “told them to speak. So Liri and the other girls decided, We’re not only not going to speak. We’ll make victory gestures and spoil the whole show they’d planned.”
Israeli hostages Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy wave from a stage in Gaza City, at a Hamas-run event, as they are released to the Red Cross, January 25, 2025 (Screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
The four hostages — Albag, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy and Daniella Gilboa — indeed smiled and waved to the large crowd of armed Hamas operatives and supporters, when they were brought onto the Hamas stage in Gaza’s Palestinian Square. Albag also gave a thumbs-up.
“The moment they did the victory gestures,” said Eli Albag, the Hamas organizers “realized that they’d got themselves into a mess with these girls, took them down from the stage, and didn’t let them speak.”
He added: “When Liri told me about this, she said, ‘Dad, if they had let me speak, I’d have said one sentence, in Arabic: “My name is Liri Albag, and I’m Number One’.”
Released hostage Liri Albag is seen with her parents, Eli and Shira, after being freed from Hamas captivity on January 25, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 27, 2025
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
