Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani wrote movingly about how her heart “never recovered” since she was taken from her boyfriend on October 7.
The student, who was rescued in June, spoke for the first time about the heartbreaking moment she was separated from Avinatan Or.
He has not been seen since chilling footage showed him watching helplessly, surrounded by gunmen, as Hamas militants drove Noa to Gaza on a motorbike.
She became the face of the attack after a powerful Mail on Sunday front page captured those final seconds as she approached Avinatan while screaming at her captors: “Don’t kill me!”
She has now revealed how she “fought until the very last moment” to remain “side by side” with the love of her life that day. “I still can’t come to terms with the fact that I am here now and you, my beloved, are still there, living each day in endless fear,” she says.
Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani has written a moving letter about how her “heart has never recovered” since she split 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 in a daring helicopter mission on June 8, vowed to do “everything in my power” to bring Avinatan and the remaining 115 hostages home.
In a heartbreaking love letter to Avinatan, 30, whom she met at Ben-Gurion University three years ago, Noa writes of: ‘That moment the whole world witnessed, the moment my heart was torn apart and has never recovered since.
‘I always promised you that we would conquer the world together, that we would grow old together, that I would be by your side through thick and thin.
‘At that moment, on October 7, I fought until the last minute so that we could go through everything together, side by side. Sadly, those were the last moments I saw you.’
And he adds: “Unlike the thousands of people who have been killed since October 7, you can still save yourself.”
Noa ends the note, which she shared on Instagram, declaring: ‘I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make the voices of the 115 kidnapped people who are still there heard.
Despite the trauma of being held hostage for 245 days, Noa (pictured) is using all her strength to fight for the release of her boyfriend and other hostages.
‘To bring them all back, to save them now before it’s too late, to bring back those who are still alive and to bury those who died in their land.’
She also thanked Israeli special forces hero Arnon Zmora, who died saving her, and said the phrase “in his death he gave us life” will be “woven into my life forever.”
Despite the unfathomable trauma of having spent 245 days in captivity before losing her mother to brain cancer last month, Noa is using all her strength to fight for the release of Avinatan and the other hostages.
He recently traveled to Washington DC with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pressure politicians to work toward a deal.
It is only the second time Noa, who has been mourning her mother Liora in silence, has spoken publicly since her rescue.
In a short pre-recorded video clip last month, he called on the world to “learn to love and not hate.”