"You Feel Abandoned": Hostage Survivor Naama Levy Speaks Out for the First Time
IDF observer Naama Levy's first interview since Hamas captivity reveals October 7th horrors, overwhelming loneliness, and lasting bond with fellow survivor. One year after freedom, the struggle continues.
One year after the female observers were released from Hamas captivity, hostage survivor Naama Levy is speaking publicly for the first time about the terrifying hours of October 7th, the overwhelming sense of abandonment, and the bond she formed with fellow survivor Karina Ariev during their time in captivity.
In an interview set to air this Sunday on IDF Radio's "Good Morning Israel," Levy returns to those long hours trapped in a safe room, the crushing loneliness, and the moments when time seemed to stop moving altogether.
Levy describes the hours she spent in the safe room at the Nahal Oz outpost as the reality around her collapsed.
"Those were hours that felt like forever," she says. "You're sitting there facing your friends who were murdered, and you don't understand why it's not ending. You don't know what's going to happen."
Fellow survivor Karina Ariev joined Naama in the interview. The two first met on Friday, October 6th, during a routine handover shift at the observers' command center, just one day after Levy arrived at the Nahal Oz outpost. It was a brief, routine meeting that within hours turned into something completely different.
The next time they saw each other wasn't at the outpost, but in captivity in Gaza, months later. In the interview, they return to that jarring moment and describe how their reunion happened in an extreme reality, far from anything they had known before.
A year after returning from captivity, Levy and Ariev also talk about the feeling of freedom, the struggle that came after, and the connection they've maintained since. They share that they still have long WhatsApp conversations today, revisiting moments from captivity and trying together to process the memories.