Avinatan Or spent all 738 days in complete isolation in Hamas tunnels, never encountering another hostage until his release.
Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani was reunited Monday with her boyfriend Avinatan Or after more than two years apart, describing overwhelming emotions as she saw him for the first time since Hamas terrorists ripped them away from each other at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.
Video from that day showed Argamani being forcibly taken on the back of a motorcycle, screaming “Don’t kill me” and reaching out toward Or as armed men marched him away on foot.
That footage became one of the most recognized images from the October 7 massacre,
Or was among 20 living Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Monday as part of a ceasefire deal brokered by President Donald Trump.
Argamani had been freed during an Israeli military rescue operation in June 2024, but Or had no idea she was alive and free until his own release.
“I cannot put into words the range of emotions I felt when I saw him for the first time after so long,” Argamani wrote Tuesday on X.
“Each of us faced death countless times, and yet, after two years apart, we are finally taking our first steps together again in the State of Israel.”
Their experiences in captivity could not have been more different. Argamani spent her 246 days held with children, women and the elderly, mostly kept inside houses.
Or spent all 738 days in complete isolation in Hamas tunnels, never encountering another hostage until his release.
Medical examinations revealed Or lost between 30 and 40 percent of his body weight during his captivity in central Gaza.
He endured prolonged starvation and was held under severe conditions throughout the war.
After his release, Or asked to spend time alone with Argamani. The couple shared what they described as their first cigarette together in two years, Channel 12 reported.
“At last, we can begin our healing together,” Argamani wrote.
“The recovery will be long; we still haven’t truly processed what has happened here over these past two years. But we won. We won our personal war, and the war of all those who fought alongside us to reach this moment.”
Argamani also praised the IDF for its rescue operation that freed her and thanked Trump, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for their roles in securing the ceasefire deal that brought Or home.
“We will never forget the fallen and the murdered, and we will not stop fighting until every fallen soldier and hostage is brought home for a proper burial in Israel,” she said.
Hamas is still holding the bodies of 21 hostages, which are expected to be returned under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
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