Rescued Israeli hostage reunited with mum who has stage 4 brain cancer

Four hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 have tearfully reunited with their family after months apart.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) rescued Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat in Gaza.

A video of Argamani reaching out her arm and screaming ‘Please don’t kill me’ as militants drove her away on a motorbike was one of the first and mostly widely shared clips to emerge from October 7.

Now, 245 days after the student was kidnapped, new footage shows her smiling as she hugs and kisses her father after she was rescued.

Later she was handed a phone so she could speak directly with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.

Noa’s mother, Liora, who has stage four brain cancer, released a video last November pleading to see her daughter before she dies.

The video of Noa Argamani being kidnapped on a motorcycle became one of the first widely-shared clips of the Hamas incursion (Picture: AP)

Liora Argamani pleaded for her daughter’s return before she dies of stage four cancer (Picture: REUTERS)

Noa Argamani has tearfully reunited with her father Yakov Argamani (Picture: via REUTERS)

Almog Meir Jan, another rescued hostage, with his mother Orit Meir (Picture: via REUTERS)

The mission marks the largest hostage recovery operation since the latest conflict began in October, sparked by Hamas’s incursion of Israel which led to 1,200 deaths and 250 people taken hostage.

International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday.

Noa’s boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was also seen being walked away with his hands behind his back in the original footage of the kidnapping.

He remains in Hamas captivity in Gaza, along with roughly 130 other hostages, more than 40 of whom are believed to be dead.

The dead bodies of three other festivalgoers taken that day – Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter – were recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.

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