Ceasefire in the Middle East: Finally free: Which hostages are now back in Israel

The Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip has released four more hostages. The soldiers, aged 19 and 20, were abducted during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. By midday the women were back in Israel, where they met their relatives.

Disturbing bodycam footage taken by the terrorists on October 7th showed the injured young women, some of whom were covered in blood. The Israeli women who were army scouts in the border area with the Gaza Strip appeared completely frightened. The kidnappers repeatedly shouted at the tied up women and threatened them. The worst scenes of severe violence were not published at all.

According to Israeli reports, 15 female scouts were killed and seven were kidnapped in the unprecedented attack. One of the women was rescued from the Gaza Strip after 23 days, while another was killed in captivity. Her body was recovered from the Gaza Strip by the army. Another woman who is not on the list remains in the hands of Hamas for the time being.

The government released footage at midday of parents cheering and screaming for joy as they watched videos of their daughters being handed over to the Israeli army. They are these four women:

19-year-old Liri Albag had reportedly just started working as a scout when terrorists attacked the base in Nahal Oz. According to Israeli media, hostage Noa Argamani, who was freed in the summer, reported that she and Albag were forced to do housework. Accordingly, the young soldier was kept in a tunnel, given salty water to drink and little to eat. She was also only allowed to shower for the first time a month after her abduction.

In January, Hamas released another video of the woman looking pale and pleading for her release. “She’s not the same girl anymore,” her mother Shira told Israeli media afterwards. Her once confident and fearless daughter looked scared.

According to Israeli media, the Israeli Karina Ariev called her relatives from the base on the morning of October 7th. The 20-year-old said her family should move on with their lives. She also sent a message to her sister and asked her to take care of her parents and to be strong if the soldier did not survive the attack.

In the Islamists’ photos, the young woman can be seen being abducted wearing only her pajamas. According to Israeli media, her parents expressed fear that their daughter would experience sexual violence while being held hostage and could become pregnant.

Naama Levy is another scout in the military observer force, whose members had unsuccessfully warned superiors about suspicious activity in the Gaza Strip before the Hamas terror attack.

The 20-year-old can be seen in the footage from the day she was kidnapped from a military base with her hands tied and her pants covered in blood. This fueled fears that the women could also have become victims of sexual violence.

Her mother told Israeli media that she constantly imagines moments after her daughter’s return. She speaks to her in her mind.

As a teenager, the 20-year-old volunteered for an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. She told her kidnappers: “I have friends in Palestine.” It didn’t do her any good.

Soldier Daniella Gilboa, who was also kidnapped from the army base in Nahal Oz, appears to be seen with an injured leg and limping in the footage of the kidnapping. She appeared in several hostage videos distributed by Hamas. The 20-year-old woman said in one of them that she was terribly afraid for her life. She told her family that she missed them.

In November 2024, Hamas announced that an Israeli woman kidnapped in the Gaza Strip had been killed in an Israeli army attack. She also distributed recordings that, among other things, show a tattoo of the killed hostage. At the time there were reports that it was Gilboa. Israel did not confirm this claim.

According to Israeli media, the young woman plays the piano and dreams of becoming a singer.