FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGE SAYS HAMAS NEVER HIT HER DURING CAPTIVITY, CLARIFIES MISQUOTED REMARKS IN MEDIA

Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old Israeli woman freed from Hamas captivity, clarified on Friday that her injuries were caused by an Israeli airstrike during her rescue operation, not by a Hamas attack, as some reports had suggested. Her clarification came after certain remarks she made in Tokyo were misquoted by the media, leading to widespread misunderstanding.

Noa Argamani was speaking to diplomats from G7 countries on Wednesday in Tokyo. She recounted the harrowing experience of being taken captive by Palestinian armed groups, but later issued a statement on Instagram to correct the misinterpretation of her words.

In her statement, Argamani stated that she was not beaten or had her hair shaved by Palestinian fighters, as some Israeli media outlets had reported. "I cannot ignore what happened here over the past 24 hours, taking my words out of context," she wrote, referring to the coverage of her speech in Tokyo. She clarified, "(Hamas members) did not hit me while I was in captivity, nor did they cut my hair; I was injured by the collapse of a wall caused by an (Israeli) Air Force pilot."

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Noa Argamani's injuries occurred during an Israeli raid on the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah refugee camps in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of at least 236 Palestinians, including many women and children. Noa Argamani, along with three other Israeli captives, Almog Meir Jan (22), Andrey Kozlov (27) and Shlomi Ziv (41), was rescued by Israeli special forces on June 8.

During her visit to Japan with her father, Argamani spoke emotionally about her time in captivity. "Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life," she said, describing the constant fear she lived under until her rescue. Reflecting on her survival, she called it a "miracle," noting that she not only survived the October 7 attack but also the subsequent bombing and the perilous rescue operation.

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Argamani also highlighted the importance of securing the release of the remaining Israeli captives, including her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who remains in Hamas captivity. "Avinatan, my boyfriend, is still there, and we need to bring them back before it's going to be too late. We don't want to lose more people than we already lost," she urged. 

Out of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 105 are still believed to be in Gaza, according to the Israeli army.