Noai Argamani was held hostage in Gaza – Israeli media criticizes her

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Noa Argamani, 26, was released after eight months as a hostage in Gaza, and is now criticizing the Israeli media.

She believes they turned her account of her time as a hostage into a lie.

– As a victim of October 7, I refuse to be a victim of the media again.

Noa Argamani became the face of Israeli hostages after a video of her kidnapping was filmed on October 7. In the video, which circulated on social media, she screams “don’t kill me” as she is taken away on a motorcycle.

On June 8, she was released along with three other hostages who had been rescued during an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah refugee camps in Gaza. The release of the four hostages resulted in the deaths of more than 200 Palestinians, according to Reuters.

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Just over two months after her release, she spoke about her time as a hostage during a meeting with diplomats from the Group of Seven nations in Tokyo on Wednesday.

“It's a miracle I'm here”

During the meeting, Noa says it's a miracle she even attended the meeting.

She said, “It's a miracle that I survived October 7, I survived the bombing, and I survived the rescue.”

During the meeting, she spoke about her friend Avinatan, who is still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

“We have to get them back before it's too late,” she said.

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After his daughter was kidnapped on October 7, Argamani's father spoke to Middle East Eye news site and prayed for peace and an end to the suffering of prisoners and Palestinians in Gaza.

He said at the time: We must stop this killing between us and them so that there can be real peace between these two countries once and for all.

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It was subjected to an Israeli air strike.

On Friday, two days after the meeting, she took to Instagram and criticized the Israeli media's use of her Tokyo speech.

“I cannot ignore what has happened here over the past 24 hours, where my words have been taken out of context,” she wrote.

She also wrote that Hamas members did not beat her while she was in captivity, nor did they cut her hair as reported. Noa explained in the statement that she had sustained “wounds” all over her head when she was hit when a wall collapsed after an Israeli airstrike.

– As a victim of October 7, I refuse to be exposed by the media again, the blog post concludes.