Liora Argamani, the mother of Noa Argamani who was recently rescued from Hamas captivity, has passed away from brain cancer at Ichilov Hospital. Liora’s final days were spent with her daughter, who was rescued during a raid by Israeli forces in Gaza last month. Noa was abducted by Hamas during the October 7th attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the capture of 251 hostages.
Liora had publicly pleaded for her daughter’s release, saying she wanted to see her daughter before passing on.
Weeks after her release, Argamani released a video of herself speaking. In the clip she said it was a great privilege to be by my mother’s side, after eight months of uncertainty.” She also said that the thing that occupied her most while in captivity was concern for her parents. Argamani is an only child.
On Saturday June 8th, Argamani was reunited with her family and within hours was by her mother’s side. That was about three weeks ago.
Noa became one of the most recognized hostages because of distressing footage that came out showing her being transported into Gaza on a motorcycle, reaching desperately for her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was being led on foot with his hands tied behind his back. Avinatan is still in captivity.
While Noa reunited with her mother after her rescue, Almog Meir Jan faced a tragic outcome. His father passed away from grief just hours before learning of Almog’s release. That is what his aunt Dina Jan told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.
On the morning of October 7, Noa, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were taken from the Supernova music festival near Re’im. During this attack, Palestinian terrorists killed 364 festival attendees and kidnapped more than 40 people, taking them to Gaza.
Currently, some 116 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza. Of these, 42 have been confirmed dead. A weeklong truce in late November saw the release of 105 civilians. Four others had been released earlier. Seven hostages have been rescued alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military.
