From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 23, 2024
‘We have to celebrate life’: Rescued hostage Noa Argamani keeps on dancing despite ongoing war
Former Hamas hostage Noa Argamani celebrates her “return to life” at a party with friends and family, after returning to Israel from speaking with diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo.
“It’s not ideal that we’re having this party while there’s still a war in the background,” she tells the crowd, as seen in a video aired by Channel 12, “while our soldiers are on the battlefield, while there are still 109 hostages there in Gaza, including my partner, Avinatan Or, who we miss terribly.”
נועה ארגמני חוגגת עם החברים מהתואר:
״צריכים לחגוג כל רגע שאנחנו פה, צריכים לחגוג כל הזמן״ ???? pic.twitter.com/MxbSk7FsBq— Lee Ayash (@lee_ayash) August 23, 2024
“But at the same time, I’m happy to celebrate life itself with all of you,” she says, to cheers from her friends. “To remember that we have to value every day in this life, we have to celebrate every moment that we’re here.”
Argamani was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the Gaza border and invaded southern Israel, murdering some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.
She was rescued from Nuseirat in central Gaza by IDF forces after nine months of captivity in a daring daylight operation on June 8, along with hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
Footage of Argamani’s abduction, in which she was seen screaming as her Hamas captor drove her away on the back of a motorcycle while her boyfriend Avinatan Or was held back, became some of the most famous footage of the October 7 terror onslaught.
