The mothers of the youngest hostages today make a passionate plea from their daughters’ bedrooms for negotiators to finally reach an agreement to “bring back our girls.”
Teenagers Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Agam Berger have been held captive in Gaza for more than 150 days and time is running out to save them.
This week, diplomats are hammering out a ceasefire deal to try to free them and dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners before Ramadan on Sunday.
Negotiations are on the cards and talks in Cairo end today with Hamas rejecting the Israeli proposal and returning its own revised demands.
As the deal neared finality, the mothers of the 19-year-old girls sat on their daughters’ empty beds and let out a motherly cry at the negotiators.
Liri Albag. Teenagers Liri, Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, Karina Ariev and Agam Berger have been held captive in Gaza for more than 150 days and time is running out to save them.
Shira Albag. Shira, 51, demanded: “Now, before Ramadan, we believe that something should happen, it must happen.”
Agam Berger. This week, diplomats are hammering out a ceasefire deal in Cairo to try to free them and dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners before Ramadan on Sunday.
Meirav Berger. Meirav, 48, implored politicians: “Help me bring my baby home,” while Liri’s mother Shira, 51, demanded: “Now, before Ramadan, we think something should happen, must happen.”
“I ask everyone involved in the negotiation – on the Israeli side, on the Egyptian side, on the Qatari side, on the Hamas side – to just make the deal and bring my daughter back home,” said Daniela’s mother, Orly, 38, to the Daily Mail. ‘I’m begging you, please do it.’
Karina’s mother Ira, 44, shouted: “Please don’t forget my little daughter; do everything you can to bring her to us.”
Naama’s mother, Ayelet Levy-Shachar, 50, said: “I urge everyone, anyone who can have influence – in Israel, the mediators, the United States, Qatar, Egypt – I just want everyone to do everything they can. can make this happen and bring my girl back home.
Agam’s mother Meirav, 48, implored politicians: “Help me bring my baby home,” while Liri’s mother Shira, 51, demanded: “Now, before Ramadan, we believe that something should happen, must happen.”
The Mail published a powerful article in January showing the terrified faces of Daniela, Karina, Liri and Agam hours after they were kidnapped in Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border.
They were taken alongside Naama, who was also paraded in harrowing images showing her pulled by her hair and carried into a jeep in blood-soaked pajamas on October 7.
Karina Ariev. Ceasefire talks in Cairo are feared to present the last chance after so many failed attempts and negotiations are hanging by a thread with both sides threatening to walk away if demands are not met.
Ira Ariev. Ira, 44, shouted: “Please don’t forget my little daughter; do everything you can to bring her to us.”
Dr. Levy-Shachar, a family doctor in Ra’anana, near Tel Aviv, was sitting on her daughter’s untouched bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals and the young runner’s trophies. “You’ve seen the video of my daughter,” she said.
‘You can see her wounds and that she is terrified and bloody. This is what I experience every day, thinking about her. Every day… for five months.’
She told how she and Naama’s brothers, Amit, 21, Michal, 16, and Omri, 11, now go in and out of her room all the time. “We feel it and we are waiting for it,” she said.
“I’m a mother and my heart is broken,” she added, before bursting into tears: “I’m tired of saying this.” Having to beg and plead. “I just don’t want to do this anymore, I just want this to happen.”
Mrs. Gilboa told how her youngest daughter, Noam, 15, now sleeps in Daniela’s bed every night to “feel” her beloved older sister. Meanwhile, the hostage’s beloved 20-year-old boyfriend, Roy Dadon, is distraught waiting for her.
“I just want to see my daughter here,” he said, clutching his photograph. ‘My Daniela, sleeping in her bed, in her cozy room with her family hugging her, supporting her.’ Pointing to her dressing table, Mrs Gilboa, a banker from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, said: “She is a very beautiful girl and she likes to dress up.”
‘I hope she comes back very soon, so I can see her getting dressed and standing in front of the mirror, looking at herself and smiling. I just miss her.’
Karina’s mother, Ira, 44, was sitting on her daughter’s sofa bed holding the teen’s reversible toy octopus, which has a sad face but can be turned around to smile.
Naama Levy. As ceasefire talks in Cairo draw to a close, the mothers of the 19-year-old girls sat on their daughters’ empty beds and gave a motherly cry to the negotiators.
Naama’s mother, Ayelet Levy-Shachar. Ayelet, 50, said: “I urge everyone, anyone who can have influence – in Israel, the mediators, the United States, Qatar, Egypt – I just want everyone to do everything possible to make this happen and for my ‘homecoming girl’
“Every time he comes home, this octopus suddenly gets happy,” he says, turning him around to smile. The medical secretary, originally from Donetsk, Ukraine, then puts him back to where he was. “Since October 7, we have been waiting for the octopus to smile again, to be with us again.”
On the bed are unopened birthday gifts, left by her best friend in the Jerusalem apartment before Karina was kidnapped. “We miss her so much, we are heartbroken,” Mrs Ariev said.
‘She is our heart, our light and our family.’ Fighting back tears, the petite mother of two adds: “Please don’t forget about us.”
Liri’s mother Shira, 51, hugs her daughter’s huge stuffed elephant and imagines she is hugging Liri as she sits on her bed in Yarhiv, near Tel Aviv.
“We didn’t change the sheets for 150 days, because we think she needs to come back like the last day she was sleeping here,” the account manager said.
On the bed are more stuffed animals and Liri’s Minnie Mouse pajamas, while the room is full of letters and gifts awaiting her return after she turned 19 in captivity last month.
“All the mothers who are taking care of me, please help me bring my son,” said the mother of four. ‘They are little girls. Liri needs to come home to sleep in her room, in her safe room. We need to hug her, we need to kiss her.’
Daniela Gilboa. The Mail published a powerful article in January showing the terrified faces of Daniela, Karina, Liri and Agam hours after they were kidnapped in Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border.
Orly Gilboa. “I ask everyone involved in the negotiation – from the Israeli side, from Egypt, Qatar, Hamas – to simply make the deal and bring my daughter back home,” Orly, 38, told the Daily Mail. ‘I beg you, please do it’
Agam’s mother, Meirav, sat holding her talented daughter’s violin as she told her that she wanted her to come home and fill it with music once again.
“I will be strong until my baby reaches my arms,” she said, sitting on Agam’s bed, above which messages of strength and support are scrawled on the wall.
The 48-year-old industrial engineer, through tears, then said a prayer in Hebrew for her daughter. ‘My Agam, mom misses your presence. You are my oxygen, my breath of fresh air here.
‘I know I will see you very soon with God’s help. God is with you there and God is with us here. We stand firm to embrace you and welcome you home soon. Amen.’
Mothers will launch a Bring Back Our Girls campaign this week on International Women’s Day to demand that feminists finally stand up to help free them.