Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani has spoken out publicly and criticized the Israeli media for misrepresenting her experiences while in captivity and using rhetoric.
Speaking to the media, Argamani downplayed some of the allegations made against the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, saying Israeli media had misinterpreted her statement and claimed that she was beaten and had her hair cut while in captivity in Gaza.
Following her release from Gaza in June this year, several media outlets, particularly Israeli ones, reported that Argamani stated that her captors had cut off her hair and that she had been beaten or punched all over her body.
She claimed her actual words were: “This weekend, after the shooting, I had, as I said, cuts all over my head and injuries all over my body. However, I would like to stress that they (Hamas) never actually hit me.” While recounting how a building fell on her after an Israeli airstrike, she stressed that this, and not Hamas, was the reason for her plight.
Argamani spoke in response to the Israeli who misquoted her during a meeting with G7 diplomats in Tokyo.
She stated that she did not want to be victimized again, not even by the media: “As a victim of October 7, I will not allow any media to misrepresent my story and make me a victim again.”
On June 8, the Israeli army managed to free four prisoners of the Hamas group, including Argamani, in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. There are currently over 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza, 36 of whom are believed to be dead due to the relentless Israeli air strikes, according to Israel’s public broadcaster. CAN.
According to local health authorities, Israel has killed more than 40,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 93,000 since October 7.
