On October 7, seven female IDF soldiers were kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz base by Hamas terrorists and taken into the Gaza Stri[. Five of them are still being held captive after Ori Megidish was rescued in an operation in Gaza and Noa Marciano's body was recovered by the military and brought back to Israel for burial. These are the stories of the five young women who remain in captivity, after their families allowed the publication of the video showing their abduction on Wednesday.
Daniella Gilboa
Daniella Gilboa, 20, also called 'Dana' by her family, grew up in Petah Tikva to parents Orly and Ran, and is an older sister to Noam. Daniella plays the piano, sings, writes and dreams of becoming a singer. She studied music in high school and graduated with honors.
Daniella served as an IDF lookout at the Nahal Oz base from where she was taken. In the footage of her kidnapping, she can be seen hobbling and hopping on one leg while being forced into the terrorists' jeep. It appears she was injured in her leg by gunfire or shrapnel during the attack on the base.
Her mother, Orly, lost contact with Daniella at around 7:30 a.m. that Saturday. "I contacted her after there were some rocket explosions heard in central Israel. I texted her, asking what was going on? I knew she was close to the Gaza border, and after a few minutes, she wrote back, 'Mom, I hear explosions and gunfire.' I thought it was something trivial because she was near Gaza, but I assumed it was far from her. I didn’t understand the magnitude of the event. She wrote to me saying 'Mom, pray for us,' and that's when I understood," Orly told Ynet.
"On Sunday night, we saw her in some video showing hostages. We recognized her head peeking out, even though it was just her head and a small ponytail. A few days later, they informed us she was missing, and after a few more days, they told us she was kidnapped."
Karina Ariev
Karina Ariev, 19, from Jerusalem, is the daughter of Irv and Albert Ariev and the sister of Sasha. Her family describes her as someone who loves to make people happy, who cooks, sings, dances and writes poems.
In a news conference held at the headquarters of the hostages' families on the 54th day of the war, her sister Sasha said that "Karina always joked that I would die before her since I’m older – I beg you to make sure of this. Make sure I die before her. I saw a video of her injured and know nothing else since."
On October 7, Karina managed to talk to her parents twice by phone during the raid on the base, and later sent them a farewell message.
Liri Elbag
Liri Elbag is the middle child in the Elbag family from Moshav Yarhiv. Her older sisters are Roni and Shai, and her younger brother is Guy, all children of Shira and Eli. Liri is lively, has friends all over the country, and enjoys going out and having fun with them. She loves motorsports, cars and engines. Her family describes her as someone who doesn’t care what others think and does everything at her own pace and timing.
About a year ago, Liri's boyfriend, Nir Alboro, was seriously injured in a car-ramming attack. Liri cared for him, studied for her exams next to his hospital bed, and encouraged him to recover. She believed he would recover and even got a tattoo with the word FAITH. After she was kidnapped, her sisters and mother also got the tattoo, filled with faith that she would return home soon.
Liri enlisted for the IDF lookout course on July 31. After finishing the course, she was assigned to the Nahal Oz base, as she had requested. She was supposed to start her orientation on October 8, but it was decided that she and her friends would stay at the base over the weekend. Liri managed to send Nir a picture of herself in the morning on her way to the lookout post, asking him not to worry. She was wearing a light blue sweatshirt, which her family later identified in the kidnapping video.
"She also sent us a photo showing that she was in the lookout post. She seemed normal and calm. We were supposed to visit her, and we told her we understood that the day's meeting was canceled. About 45 minutes later, she called again, and we could already hear gunfire," according to her family.
“She said there was a suspected raid on the base. We asked her what that meant, and she explained that it meant terrorists had infiltrated. Mom suggested they might go to the safe room because the lookout post was open, but she said she didn’t even know where it was. About 10 minutes later, she sent a message to the family group: ‘We were shot at, I wasn’t hit.' We tried to reach her again but couldn’t."
Naama Levy
Naama Levy, 19, grew up in Ra'anana with her three siblings, the daughter of Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar and Yoni Levy. Naama is an athlete, and her family participates in various sports events to raise awareness about her captivity.
Her mother wrote about her in a column for The Free Press news outlet, that read: “You have seen the video of my daughter Naama Levy. Everyone has. You have seen her dragged by her long brown hair from the back of a Jeep at gunpoint, somewhere in Gaza, her gray sweatpants covered in blood. You may have perhaps noticed that her ankles are cut, that she’s barefoot and limping. She is seriously injured. She is frightened. And I, her mother, am helpless in these moments of horror.”
“Before that day, every video our family had taken of Naama was joyful – dancing with friends, laughing with her three siblings, and simply enjoying life. Naama is only 19, but she’ll always be my baby girl. A girl who truly believes in the good of all people,” she added.
Agam Berger
Agam Berger, 19, from Holon, is the daughter of Shlomi and Meirav, the twin sister of Lee-Yam, and the sister of Bar and Ilai. Her family describes her as dominant and opinionated, a fighter for justice. She has strong faith and observes the Sabbath.
She enlisted in the IDF only two months before her kidnapping and was assigned to the Nahal Oz base after completing the lookout course. In the footage of her kidnapping, blood can be seen on Agam's face, and it’s unclear whether she injured herself or if it was the blood of her friends who were murdered in the lookout post beside her.
After the families' decision to release the video of the womens' abduction, Shlomi told Ynet: "I saw the video of Agam being led to the jeep on October 8, that's the end of the video. The full video we saw about a month ago completes the picture for me, what she experienced in the first hours.
“As a former military man, a combat officer who served in Lebanon, who was in rough places, I can't believe the insane number of terrorists seen at an IDF base. The extent of this failure is immeasurable, there are no words to describe it. The number of terrorists allowing themselves to eat, smoke a cigarette and pray."
He recounted the feelings he had when he watched the video: "The terrorists are at ease, they aren’t afraid nor ready for battle, nothing threatens them. That's what troubles me the most. They entered the base, kidnapped, and murdered, and that's it - they laughed. Where was the IDF? Where is the government? That's what I felt when I saw the video.”