 "The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared a photograph of Avinatan Or tenderly kissing her cheek as Noa Argamani smiled through tears of joy. Image courtesy: IDF")
After spending as many as 738 agonising days apart, Israeli couple Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or were finally reunited.
Or was freed on Monday as part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas , ending two years of captivity in Gaza. When he arrived at the Re’im crossing, he didn’t waste a moment. He rushed into his girlfriend’s arms, holding her tight in an embrace that had been two years in the making.
The duo was among the 251 Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attacks. A video of Noa’s abduction, crying for help as the couple was torn apart, became one of the most heartbreaking images from that day.
Now, after years of uncertainty and fear, the couple is ultimately back in each other’s arms, closing one of the darkest chapters of their lives and beginning, at last, the long road to healing
Here’s a closer look at their story.
The fateful kidnapping
Noa and Avinatan’s lives were turned upside down during the Nova music festival in the western Negev desert.
The event, held during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, promised a gathering of “friends, love and infinite freedom.” For the thousands who attended, it quickly became a scene of terror.
Located close to the Gaza border, the festival was one of the first targets when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel in the early hours of October 7, 2023. Militants stormed the festival, firing bullets into the crowd as festival-goers scrambled for their lives.
In the chaos, Noa was violently torn from Avinatan and forced onto the back of a motorbike. “Don’t kill me,” she cried, reaching out for him with one hand while the other was pinned down.
She was driven down a dirt road by her captors, while Avinatan was taken away by another group.
Locked up in ‘dark tunnels’
Noa was held alongside two male hostages, Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, both of whom tragically died in captivity. During her time in Gaza, she faced emotional abuse and “brainwashing,” forced to read the Quran and study Islamic rulings, while being moved between several apartments in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp, according to ABC News.
“In captivity, I asked about Avinatan everywhere I went. I didn’t know if he was kidnapped or murdered, but I was afraid to know the answer,” Noa later wrote on social media. Occasionally, she could step outside, disguised as a Palestinian woman, but she never saw signs of her partner.
Footage of her abduction quickly became symbolic of the October 7 attacks and fueled global calls for the release of hostages. Her parents, Liora and Yaakov, never stopped advocating for her return.
Liora, battling brain cancer, even made a heartfelt plea: “I want to see her one more time. Talk to her one more time. I don’t have a lot of time left in this world.”
Meanwhile, Or endured gruelling conditions during his 738 days in captivity. His father described to the BBC his son’s confinement in tunnels and tiny enclosures with “meagre” food and long periods of isolation. He was given almost no information about the outside world, including the fate of Noa or the scale of the Israeli offensive.
“Around him were guards whose relatives had been killed in IDF strikes. I think it’s simply a miracle they didn’t harm him, except for one time he tried to escape," his father recalled.
Also read: Who are the 20 hostages released by Hamas after 2 years in captivity?
The dramatic rescue
On the morning of Saturday, June 8, 2024, Noa heard loud knocks at her apartment. It was the IDF, arriving to rescue her as part of a planned daytime rescue operation.
She was among four hostages rescued that day and reunited with their families in Israel after enduring eight months of captivity. Noa was airlifted by helicopter to Sheba Medical Centre for a medical check-up, where doctors found her malnourished, ABC News reported.
In a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog , Noa expressed her relief, “I am very excited; I haven’t spoken Hebrew for so long.”
Later, she was transferred to Sourasky Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, where she was finally reunited with her mother, Liora, who was battling cancer. In those precious moments, Liora’s dying wish to see her daughter one last time was granted. Three weeks later, Liora passed away.
Also read: The tragic tale of Bipin Joshi, the only Nepali abducted by Hamas and killed in captivity
Efforts to rescue Avinatan
Even after her release, Noa’s thoughts remained with Avinatan, still held in isolation by Hamas. For Noa, the uncertainty of his fate was agonising.
Undeterred, she dedicated herself to lobbying for the release of the remaining hostages. Her efforts took her across the world, from meeting US President Donald Trump to diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo and even speaking before the UN Security Council.
“I miss Avinatan more with every passing day,” Noa wrote in a social media post on the second anniversary of the terror attack. “I hold onto hope, every single day, that this nightmare will end soon, and we’ll finally get to live the life we’ve dreamed of,” she wrote.
Her tireless advocacy earned her a spot on Time magazine’s list of the most influential people of 2025.
Former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff praised her bravery in her profile, “Noa’s advocacy has illuminated Hamas’ extreme brutality, but more importantly, her bravery has embodied Jewish resilience and strength even in the worst moments."
“She is living proof to the world that, despite everything, ‘We will dance again,’” he added.
‘Time to begin healing together’
On October 13, 738 days after the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, Avinatan was finally among the 20 surviving Israeli hostages brought home under the Trump 20-point peace plan.
Stepping off the helicopter onto Israeli soil, Avinatan longed to see only one person: Noa. Reunited at last, the couple shared what they described as their “first cigarette together after two years.”
Posting on Instagram, Noa wrote that they could finally start “healing together.” “We won our personal war, and the war of all those who fought alongside us to reach this moment. And now, the time has come to begin our shared journey together,” she wrote.
With input from agencies
Sayli Dhodapkar is currently working as a Sub-Editor at Firstpost Editorial team.