"I screamed with all my might": Noa Argamani reveals moments of horror in captivity

Noa Argamani, a survivor of captivity rescued by security forces in "Operation Arnon," addressed the UN Security Council today (Tuesday). Argamani was invited to speak by the Israeli delegation and the U.S. delegation to the UN, participating in a council discussion on the situation in Gaza. She shared the moments of her abduction and urged the international community to work toward the release of the hostages.

Argamani told the council members: "I was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Nova compound along with Avinatan Or. We were taken by force, separated, and plunged into a living hell. I held Avinatan’s hand as tightly as I could, but in one moment of terror, we were torn apart and dragged into the unknown."

"We don’t have any more time," she said. "I’m here today because a miracle happened to me, but there are still 63 hostages living this nightmare. They are in utter darkness, not knowing whether they’ll live or die in the next moment. Every second that passes is an eternity of suffering. We’re talking about innocent people snatched from their beds, from a dance party, from their simple lives—and taken into a world of torture and humiliation. Hamas treated us like pawns in a wicked game, driven by sheer cruelty."

Noa addressed the horrific murder of Shiri Bibas and her children, saying: "You don’t need me to tell you about a 9-month-old baby, Kfir, his 4-year-old brother Ariel Bibas, and their mother Shiri. Just a mother and her babies—and they were brutally murdered in captivity. They didn’t die in battle. They weren’t fighters. They were tender children whose blood was spilled with unimaginable brutality. This is Hamas—an organization that crushes infants in its hands and celebrates death."

Noa recounted to the council members what she endured during her captivity in Hamas’s clutches: "While I was in Gaza, I was held with two little girls—Hila Rotem and Emily Hand. At the time, Emily was 8 and Hila was 12. I saw the fear in their eyes, the trembling in their bodies. I had to be strong for them, to hide the horrors so they could survive another day."

Noa described the final moments of Yossi Sharabi, of blessed memory: "One evening, the house we were held in was bombed, and we found ourselves buried under the rubble. Itai managed to get up, but Yossi and I were trapped under piles of concrete. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe."

She continued, "I was sucked into darkness and thought that was it—those were the last seconds of my life. I screamed with all my might so someone would hear me, and I heard Yossi’s screams too. Screams of pain, of pleas, of a person trapped between life and death. And then, after a few seconds, I heard only silence. Yossi died beside me, alone, helpless."

She spoke about Itai Svirsky, who was with her in captivity: "Two days after we were moved to another house, Itai was brutally murdered by one of our captors. He had been with me from the first day of captivity. We talked about our families, about the lives we left behind. He was a pure soul. And now he’s gone."

Noa appealed to the council: "The international community must understand: our hostages are living in a hell on earth. They have no time! They have no hope without action. They must come home now."

"What kept me alive in captivity and until now," Noa said, "is something my mother always told me: always be kind, always hold on to the light. So here, in this forum, I’ll end with these words: Be kind. But more than that, be just. Act now. Bring them—all of them—home now."