Noa Argamani

On 7 October 2023, 25-year-old Israeli woman Noa Argamani (נועה ארגמני) was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

In one of the first Hamas videos released of the massacre, she was seen being abducted by motorcycle as she yells, "Don't kill me!"

Her arms are outstretched toward her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped.

The footage of her kidnapping, became a symbol of the hostage crisis and has led to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages".

Despite other hostages being released during a ceasefire in November 2023, Argamani remained captive.

On January 15, 2024, Hamas released a video featuring Argamani speaking in captivity.

Argamani was born in Israel on 12 October 1997 to Yaakov and Liora Argamani, and is their only child.

Her mother Liora Argamani (also known as Li Chonghong) is from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Argamani is a native Israeli; after her abduction it was incorrectly reported that she is a Chinese-Israeli born in Beijing.

She is a student at Ben Gurion University.

On 7 October 2023, as part of the initial incursion of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, Hamas militants crossed from the Gaza Strip into Israel and attacked the Supernova Sukkot Gathering music festival, an open-air music festival in the western Negev desert.

Argamani was attending the festival with her boyfriend Avinatan Or and was shown in a now viral video along with Or being captured by Hamas militants.

The Israeli government "condemned the video as psychological warfare propaganda."

Her friend Amit Parparia indicated that they did not want to believe the video depicted Argamani and Or, but could not deny it as "Its just her face, her clothes and it's her boyfriend."

In the video, Argamani can be heard screaming "Don't kill me! No, no, no!"

while being forced onto a motorcycle by members of Hamas.

The video also shows Or being restrained by two other men.

Or's brother, Moshe, reportedly learned of the video by emergency teams and viewed it before giving his approval for the media to be publish it.

Argamani has been seen in a later footage that appears to show her drinking water in a room in Gaza.

Allegations were raised during a NBC report that Argamani was not abducted by Hamas forces but instead by a supposed mob of Palestinians from Gaza.

This theory was posited by anonymous supposed Israeli military officials who stated their reasoning being those filmed abducting Argamani wore no official uniforms and she appeared to have been abducted several hours after the attack.

Argamani's abduction was featured on the front-page of the 8 October edition of the UK's Mail on Sunday.

News of Argamani's abduction and her ties to China have been widely reported by international and Chinese media.

Her mother Liora has appealed to the Chinese embassy for help in freeing her daughter.

Argamani's father Yaakov reportedly indicated that he did not approve of violence to get his daughter freed, saying: "They also have mothers who are crying. The same as it is for us."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Chinese Ambassador Cai Run for Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene to secure the release of Argamani.

On January 14, 2024, Hamas released a video of Argamani and two other hostages.

It showed Argamani and two male hostages introducing themselves and asking for Israel to bring them home.

Hamas had indicated it would give more information about the hostages' fate the following day.

The next day, Hamas released a video which showed Argamani saying that the two male hostages had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.