By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani — whose desperate cries on the back of a motorcycle became one of the most haunting images of the Hamas October 7, 2023, attack — was reunited on Monday with her newly freed boyfriend, Avinatan Or.
A government video showed Or, 32, first hugging and kissing his parents as his mother Ditza chants the Jewish "shehecheyanu" blessing voicing gratitude for new experiences on his return from two years of Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Or is then led to a room where he finds Argamani, 28, who was rescued from captivity by Israeli special forces in Gaza along with three other hostages in June 2024. The two embrace and kiss, apparently overwhelmed by the moment.
Footage of Argamani being taken into Gaza on the motorcycle, pleading for her life and reaching desperately towards her boyfriend as he marched alongside her on foot circulated across the globe soon after the October 7 attack.
The two were seized from the Nova music festival that was one of the main focuses of the Hamas attack in southern Israel. More than 360 people were killed at the site and another 40 were taken hostage. After her return, Argamani campaigned for the return of the other hostages.
On Monday, Hamas handed over Or and 19 other surviving Israeli hostages as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, who arrived in Israel shortly before Or was freed.
Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners in the exchange deal.
(Reporting by Maayan LubellEditing by Howard Goller and Frances Kerry)
