Ailing mom of Hamas hostage Noa Argamani hopes for last hug with her before it’s too late
The cancer-stricken mother of Noa Argamani, who became the face of the Hamas hostage crisis, is hoping for a last chance to hug her daughter before she succumbs to the illness.
Argamani’s mother, Liora, fears that time is running out for a reunion before she loses her battle with advanced brain cancer — and is desperate to embrace her daughter one last time, her family told the Jerusalem Post.
“The illness is very serious, progressing at a fast pace. I very much hope that time will not run out for her to see Noa,” Noa’s aunt Yaffe Ohad told the outlet as tears welled up in her eyes.
“I’ve been looking at her for four months, and I know that her emotional state greatly affects her physical state. And I’m very worried about her life. The longer Noa doesn’t come back, it affects her for the worse,” she said.
Argamani, 26, has been held by the terrorists since she was kidnapped during a trance music festival near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.
She was captured on video being carted away on a Palestinian gunman’s motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me! No, no, no!” while her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was manhandled by terrorists.
Her mom, Liora, who is suffering from advanced brain cancer, has pleaded for help in getting her daughter released.
In December, her mother, Liora, appealed to President Biden.
“I am terminally ill with stage 4 brain cancer,” she wrote him in a letter. “All that’s running through my mind before I part ways with my family forever is the chance to hug my daughter, my only child, one last time.”
Ohad said, “Liora is waiting, hoping that she will be able to see her, be with her even for just an hour — to hug her and then say goodbye.”
The aunt and the families of other hostages were in Geneva on Tuesday to meet with United Nations officials, as well as Mirjana Spoljaric, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families last week that a “real effort” was being made to secure the hostages’ release but that it was too early to say how that would be accomplished.
“We need to live in peace and reach an agreement, to continue living (in peace),” Ohad told the news outlet. “Because wars have always led to suffering and sorrow.”
Israeli intelligence has concluded that at least 32 of the 136 remaining hostages still believed to be held in Gaza have died — more than officials had previously indicated, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Last month, Noa was seen in video released by Hamas in which she revealed that Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky had been killed in captivity.
She said she had been held in a building with her fellow two hostages by Hamas’ military wing when the site was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
“It was bombed by an IDF airstrike, an F16 fighter jet,” Noa said in the video. “Three rockets were fired. Two of the rockets exploded, and the other didn’t.
“We were in the building with Al Qassam soldiers and three hostages: Myself, Noa Argamani, Itai Svirsky, and Yossef Sharabi,” she added.
“After the building we were in was hit, we were all buried under rubble. Al Qassam soldiers saved my life, and Itai’s. Unfortunately, we were not able to save Yossi’s,” Noa said.
“After many days … two nights, Itai and I were relocated to another place. While we were being transported, Itai was hit by an IDF airstrike. He did not survive,” she said, blaming the Israel Defense Forces.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari denied that an Israeli airstrike killed the two men and characterized the propaganda video as a “lie” by Hamas.
