ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 502

Wartime Diaries: Karina is Home

Now that Hamas hostage Karina Ariev is home, listen back to her sister Sasha’s experience in October 2023, at the very beginning of her captivity

Edit 26 January 2025, 12:09 pm

472 days ago, a visibly shaken and yet stunningly composed Sasha Ariev came into our studio to talk about her younger sister — Karina — who had been kidnapped from her army base five days earlier, on October 7, 2023. We aired that as our very first “Wartime Diary” and have — ever since — felt a special bond to Karina.

On Saturday, we all watched with tears of joy as Karina was released together with her fellow surveillance officers Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa and Liri Albag.

When the time is right, we plan to invite Sasha back into the studio for a follow-up conversation. But for now, we are re-airing that first “Wartime Diary.” We now know the happy outcome of the story, but also bear in mind that this wasn’t the fate of all hostages and that there are still 90 men, women and children waiting to come back home.

The end song is Nekuda Tova (“Good Point”), by Shuli Rand with Ehud Banai.

Produced in partnership with The Times of Israel.

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