- Argamani was filmed shouting ‘don’t kill me’ as she was kidnapped in October
- She was seen for the first time today since her abduction, 100 days later
Hamas has released a chilling video of Israeli hostages including 26-year-old Noa Argamani, whose abduction 100 days ago horrified the world.
Appearing for the first time since she was kidnapped on October 7, Ms Argamani from Beersheba, southern Israel, confirmed her identity and said: ‘Stop this madness and return us to our families.’
She was joined by Tai Tversky, 38, and Yossi Sharabi, 53, also held hostage since Hamas’ bloody incursion into Israel last October.
‘[Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin] Netanyahu, please stop the war. Bring us home,’ said Mr Tversky, of Tel Aviv.
‘For this to happen, the war must stop,’ says Mr Sharabi.
‘Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate,’ reads a cold message overlaid onto the video.
There is no information to indicate when or where the videos were filmed.
Past video releases from Hamas appear to show hostages speaking under duress from inside Gaza.
Israeli captive Mia Schem, released as part of a deal in November, was seen in a video praising the people and the food she received as a hostage. After her release, she said she was left to starve and lived in fear of rape.
Noa Argamani’s kidnapping made headlines last year when she was pictured screaming on the back of a motorcycle as Hamas gunmen abducted her from southern Israel and took her into Gaza.
January 14 marks 100 days since Hamas’ shock invasion into southern Israel, storming across the border in cars, vans and by motorised paraglider at daybreak.
Some 1,100 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in massacres of kibbutzim and the Nova Music Festival near Re’im. Noa Argamani was among those enjoying the ‘peace festival’ in the desert when gunmen breached the site and opened fire.
Noa desperately messaged her friend at 8.10am saying she was in a parking lot and ‘can’t get out’, to which her friend replied: ‘Hide. Let me know that everything is ok’. More than two hours later, she told her friend ‘We don’t have a car’.
That was the last time Noa’s friends and family heard from her, before footage emerged online of her screaming ‘don’t kill me’ as she was taken to Gaza on the back of a motorbike.
As many as 240 hostages were taken on October 7 to be used as leverage in prisoner swaps with Israel, which holds many Palestinians – civilians and suspected terrorists – in prisons.
A week-long ceasefire was organised in November after weeks of retaliatory bombing by Israel on communities in Gaza as the army paved the way for a wider ground invasion.
Critics, including international charities and the UN, warned that the bombing was devastating civilian communities in one of the world’s most densely-packed enclaves.
A siege of Gaza City, cutting water, aid, power, medical supplies and fuel to the beleaguered Strip risked a serious humanitarian crisis, the UN warned in October.
And 24-hour evacuation orders were met with outcry from humanitarian aid groups, warning such an unprecedented migration of people was ‘impossible’.
Mounting pressure eventually saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cede the ‘humanitarian pause’ to last from November 24 until November 30 – later extended until November 31.
A total of 110 hostages were released during that timeframe, mostly as part of a Qatar-mediated deal between Hamas and Israel, some released as part of a separate deal with Thailand and two as a gesture to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The return of hostages from Gaza has revealed the dire conditions hostages were exposed to within Gaza.
Some gave chilling accounts of rape, physical beatings and psychological torture, drawing horrified reactions from family members and Israeli citizens who put more pressure on the government to safely ensure the return of the remaining captives.
The sustained fighting has also seen IDF soldiers mistakenly kill surrendering hostages carrying white flags while operating in Gaza.
And returning hostages warned some were being held in tunnels under the Strip – as Israel revealed plans to pump them with water to flush out Hamas.
As the conflict reached its 100th day, protestors in Tel Aviv were seen calling for the safe return of the remaining hostages, demanding a ceasefire and more prisoner swaps.
Video shared previously showed some of the emotional clashes between the families of hostages and members of Netanyahu’s war cabinet.
Families worry the far-right government’s policies enacted during wartime, such as new provisions for the death penalty, could adversely affected their loved ones held in Gaza.
And the White House said on Sunday it was the ‘right time’ for Israel to scale back the war in Gaza.
‘There is a realisation there is no military way to get them out so that increases the pressure on the [Israeli] government to respond and seek a deal,’ Dr Andreas Krieg, Assistant Professor of Defence Studies at King’s College London, told MailOnline.
‘There is a realisation that this kind of operational tempo is not sustainable.
‘It’s not sustainable in terms of the casualties that are being generated. The amount of casualties among Palestinian civilians is completely unprecedented, I think, in modern warfare because ultimately [the IDF] can’t leave. They’re just there.’
More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its military campaign in October, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Around 40 per cent of the Gazan population are children.
Despite the challenges facing Israel operating within the Palestinian enclave, the IDF has reaffirmed its commitment to safely returning the hostages through ‘increased military pressure’.
Army chief Herzi Halevi said in a statement on Saturday: ‘We do not forget and we will not forget, and we will continue to remind even those who try to deny it. We are fighting for our right to live here in safety.’
‘Tomorrow [Sunday, January 14] we will mark a hundred days since the beginning of the war. A hundred days in which the hostages are still held in Gaza by the cruel Hamas terrorists,’ he added.
‘We are operating by all means, most of them covertly, in order to return them and we will continue to do so until we return them all.’
The escalating crisis in Yemen has also put pressure on warring factions to find a permanent solution to the conflict as it enters its fourth month.
Hamas-allied Houthi rebels have been attacking trade vessels in and around the Red Sea since October 19.
The Red Sea separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula, leading to the Suez Canal through which 12 per cent of the world’s trade passes.
In light of the attacks, a number of major shipping operators announced plans to reroute or cancel operations altogether.
The number of containers passing through the Red Sea fell by more than half in December, down to 200,000 from 500,000 only a month prior.
Pledging to protect global trade, and fearing the attacks would force up global prices of essential items, a coalition of the US, the UK and a number of allies conducted airstrikes on 60 Houthi targets in the early hours of Friday morning.
The attacks were followed by subsequent US attacks late Friday and on Saturday afternoon.
The Houthis vowed revenge for the attacks and shared footage of their soldiers conducting military drills in mock Jewish residential areas on January 13.
Aerial footage shared by the rebels showed Houthi troops training around a makeshift compound consisting of several houses marked with the Star of David.
Men wielding Kalashnikov-style assault rifles were seen advancing on the site, storming tents and shooting at a portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
They then appeared to practice taking hostages, seen using assault rifles to usher cowering actors dressed as Orthodox Jews out of the tents.
The troops are seen from above to drive away from the compound before blowing the site up entirely in an apparently controlled demolition.
Britain has not attacked since Friday, despite Houthi media claiming otherwise, but has vowed to step in again to defend international trade and security if needed.
The escalating situation has sparked fears the war between Israel and Gaza could develop into a regional conflict, with Hamas and the Houthis both separately receiving funding from Iran, staunchly at odds with Israel.
The Houthis, embroiled in a bloody civil war with the internationally-recognised Yemeni government since 2014, have been accused of several violations of international law – beyond the targeting non-combatant merchant vessels in the Red Sea – including using child soldiers, expected to make up a third of all fighters in Yemen.
Human Rights Watch published a report in 2018 detailing how Houthi soldiers would take hostages, arbitrarily detain people and use torture methods to extort money from relatives.
The UN also reported in 2018 the Houthis were diverting food aid from distribution areas intended for civilians affected by the humanitarian crisis.
And in 2019, there were allegations the Houthis supported the restoration of slavery in Yemen with the families of leaders holding some 1,800 citizens as slaves and servants in their personal residences.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
