I can’t believe I’m free but you, my beloved, live in endless fear: Rescued hostage Noa Argamani’s heartbreaking letter to her missing boyfriend
Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani wrote movingly about how her heart “has never been healed” since she was taken from her boyfriend on October 7.
The student, who was rescued in June, spoke for the first time about the harrowing moment she was separated from Avinatan Or.
He has not been seen since harrowing footage showed him standing helplessly by, surrounded by gunmen, as Hamas militants took Noa into Gaza on a motorbike.
She became the face of the attack after a dramatic front page in the Mail on Sunday captured the final seconds of her reaching for Avinatan and shouting at her captors: “Don’t kill me!”
Now she has revealed how she ‘fought until the very end’ to stay ‘side by side’ with the love of her life that day. ‘I still can’t believe that I am here now and you, my love, are still here, living every day in endless fear,’ she says.
Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani has written a moving letter about how her “heart has never been mended” since she was separated from her boyfriend Avinatan Or on October 7 last year
The moment Noa was reunited with her father Yakov in June after eight months of captivity
Noa, 26, who was rescued on June 8 in a daring helicopter mission, has vowed to do “everything in her power” to bring Avinatan and the remaining 115 hostages home.
In a heartbreaking love letter to 30-year-old Avinatan, whom she met three years ago at Ben-Gurion University, Noa writes about: ‘That moment that the whole world witnessed – the moment when my heart was torn apart and never mended.
‘I always promised you that we would conquer the world together, that we would grow old together and that I would be there for you through thick and thin.
‘That moment on October 7th, I fought until the very end so that we could get through everything together, side by side. Unfortunately, those were the last moments I saw you.’
She adds: “Unlike the thousands of people who have been killed since October 7, you can still be saved.”
Noa concludes her note, which she shared on Instagram, by saying: ‘I promise you that I will do everything I can to make the voices of the 115 abductees who are still there heard.
Despite the trauma of the 245-day hostage situation, Noa (pictured) is putting all her strength into fighting for the release of her boyfriend and other hostages.
‘To bring them all back, to save them now before it is too late, to bring back those who are still alive and to bury those who have died in their homeland.’
She also thanked Israeli special forces hero Arnon Zmora, who died saving her, saying the phrase “with his death he gave us life” will “be woven into my life forever.”
Despite the unimaginable trauma she endured from 245 days of captivity before losing her mother to brain cancer last month, Noa is fighting with all her might for the release of Avinatan and the other hostages.
She recently traveled to Washington DC with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pressure politicians to work toward an agreement.
It is only the second time that Noa, who is quietly mourning her mother Liora, has spoken publicly since her rescue.
In a short, pre-recorded video clip last month, she called on the world to “learn to love and not to hate.”