Noa Argamani

Noa Argamani was born in 1997 in Beersheba

Noa Argamani was born on October 12, 1997, in Beersheba, the only child of Yaakov and Liora Argamani. Her mother, born Li Chunhong, came from Wuhan, China, and later became an Israeli citizen. Her father's family came from Tunisia.

She did her compulsory service in the Israeli Navy. She then studied information systems engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she met her boyfriend Avinatan Or.

On October 7, 2023, she attended the Nova festival near Re'im with Or. After hiding in the woods for hours, both were captured. A video of her being taken away on a motorcycle while reaching toward Or spread around the world and became a symbol of the hostage crisis.

In captivity she was moved between apartments and appeared in Hamas videos in January and May 2024. On June 8, 2024, she and 3 other hostages were rescued in Nuseirat by the Yamam, the IDF and the Shin Bet. Her mother, who had advanced brain cancer, saw her before dying on July 2, 2024.

After her rescue she became an activist for the hostages still held in Gaza. In August 2024 she spoke to G7 diplomats in Tokyo, and in 2025 Time named her to its Time 100 list.