Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani has held a rave to ‘celebrate life’ while paying tribute to her partner still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Footage shows Noa dancing while wearing a yellow bikini at the party in Israel on Friday, with the 26-year-old telling her friends and family: ‘I’m happy to celebrate life itself with all of you.’
But Noa, who spent 246 days in captivity before being rescued by the Israeli Defence Forces on June 8, also acknowledged that while she was having a party, hostages were still being held by Hamas – including her partner, Avinatan Or.
‘It’s not ideal that we’re having this party while there’s still a war in the background,’ she told attendees at the ‘Dance with Noa’ party, before adding that ‘we have to value every day in this life, we have to celebrate every moment that we’re here’.
Noa had made global headlines when she was filmed on the back of a motorcycle being dragged into Gaza during Hamas’ incursion into Israel last October.
Footage shows Noa dancing while wearing a yellow bikini at the party in Israel on Friday, with the 26-year-old telling her friends and family: ‘I’m happy to celebrate life itself with all of you’
‘It’s not ideal that we’re having this party while there’s still a war in the background,’ she told attendees at the ‘Dance with Noa’ party, before adding that ‘we have to value every day in this life, we have to celebrate every moment that we’re here’ (pictured: Noa with a friend at the party)
Noa became the face of the attack on October 7 after a powerful Mail on Sunday front page captured those final seconds as she reached out to Avinatan while screaming at her captors: ‘Don’t kill me!’
But Noa, who spent 246 days in captivity before being rescued by the Israeli Defence Forces on June 8, also acknowledged that while she was having a party, hostages were still being held by Hamas – including her partner, Avinatan Or (pictured with Noa before the October 7 attack)
Noa said she was having the party to celebrate her ‘return to life’ after spending nine months in Hamas’ captivity.
She became the face of the attack on October 7 after a powerful Mail on Sunday front page captured those final seconds as she reached out to Avinatan while screaming at her captors: ‘Don’t kill me!’
Her mother Liora, who had stage four cancer, feared she would not live long enough to see her daughter again, and pleaded with Hamas to free her and the Israeli and US governments to bring her home.
Noa’s father Yaakov, who also attended the party on Friday, said that he and his family, including Liora, had ‘really waited’ for Noa until ‘God granted our wish’.
After at last being reunited with her daugher in June, Liora ‘spent her final days alongside her daughter Noa, who returned from captivity, and her close family,’ the hospital where she was being treated said in a statement as it announced her death.
Last week, Noa has spoken about her experience in captivity for the first time as she met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
She said: ‘It’s a miracle that I’m here. Every night I was falling asleep and thinking this might be my last night alive.
Noa is sitting on a friend’s shoulders as she is dancing with her father Yaakov, who is also propped up on someone’s shoulders
Noa said she was having the party to celebrate her ‘return to life’ after spending 246 days in Hamas’ captivity
Her mother Liora (right), who had stage four cancer, feared she would not live long enough to see her daughter again, and pleaded with Hamas to free her and the Israeli and US governments to bring her home
Her father Yaakov, who also attended the party on Friday, said that he and his family, including Liora, had ‘really waited’ for Noa until ‘God granted our wish’ (pictured: Yaakov and Noa embracing after she was rescued)
‘My head was cut and I was [hurt] all over my body. Nobody came to visit me. Nobody came to see me. Nobody came to give me medicine. Nobody, until I got rescued. It’s a warzone.’
She stepped up calls for the release of her boyfriend Avinatan and the remaining hostages, saying ‘we need to bring them back before it’s too late’.
Earlier this month, Noa revealed how she ‘fought until the last moment’ to remain ‘side by side’ with the love of her life that day.
‘I still can’t grasp the fact that now I’m here and you, my beloved, are still there, living every day in endless fear,’ she said.
Israeli troops rescued Noa and three other hostages after 246 days in the Gaza Strip in the largest and most successful rescue operation of the war on June 8.
Noa was seen being directed by her rescuers to a car before being pulled out of Gaza in a military helicopter and returned safely to a hospital in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Three commandos from Yamam, Israel’s national counter-terrorism unit, involved in the rescue revealed that the first thing Noa did upon being rescued was ask about her mother.
Noa Argamani, a rescued hostage embraces her father, Yakov Argamani, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on June 8, 2024
Noa listens as Israel’s ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen (R) speaks during a meeting with G7 embassy representatives during a visit to Tokyo on August 21
In an interview with Israeli magazine Walla, one of the commandos said: ‘Her first question was whether her mother was still alive. I told her yes.
‘She looked right and left at us and asked again if we were sure. We told her yes, ‘that’s why we came, to bring you back to your mother.”
Despite the unfathomable trauma of having spent 246 days in captivity before losing her mother to brain cancer last month, Noa is using all her strength to fight for the release of Avinatan and the other hostages.
She recently travelled to Washington DC with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put pressure on politicians to work on reaching a deal.
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