Families of female IDF soldiers release new images of their daughters bandaged, bloody in Hamas captivity

The families of five kidnapped female IDF soldiers held a press conference on Tuesday where they released new images of their daughters in captivity in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, Agam Berger were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from their military base Nahal Oz, close to the Gaza border, on Oct. 7. The Palestinian terrorists also murdered 52 soldiers at the base. 

In an undated photo, presumably from earlier days of their captivity, some of the female soldiers had blood stains on their clothes. Ariev and Gilboa could both be seen with bandages on their heads. An additional undated image shows Levy with cuts on her face and a heavily swollen eye. 

The families chose to release the images publicly presumably to increase the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve a hostage release deal with Hamas.

Shlomi Berger, the father of Agam, urged Netanyahu to urgently close a hostage deal for the sake of their captured children and the other remaining hostages held in Gaza. 

“Mr. prime minister, this is a personal appeal to you, first, close the deal! Then you can travel safely and return safely,” Berger said, referring to Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the United States where he is scheduled to address Congress. “This is not the time for trips when your presence here, at the most critical time for our country, is essential,” he added. 

Ayelet Levy Shachar, the mother of Naama, revealed that she had turned down a request from the prime minister to accompany him to Washington.

“The prime minister asked me to join him on his flight to the US for his speech to Congress, and I explained that I cannot and will not feel comfortable joining him until I see that the negotiations regarding my Naama’s release are completed,” Shachar said. “This is not the time for trips. This is the time to close a deal and return the hostages.”

After not seeing their kidnapped children for over nine months, the parents were understandably emotional during the press conference. Albag’s mother, Shira, held a baby doll that symbolized the possibility that the young women were raped and possibly became pregnant during the captivity in Gaza. Her husband Eli felt unwell and left the conference to receive medical care. 

During the press conference, Naama’s father Yoni revealed that his daughter had been kept separately from her comrades. 

“She wasn’t captured with the other girls, as we saw in the video with the jeep,” Levy said. “Naama was held for a long period by herself,” he added.

Shiri Albag told Ynet News they had received a sign of life about a month and a half ago.

“We know the girls are alive. They have been surviving, in tunnels, for more than seven months,” she said. 

“Not a military operation or anything else — only a deal will get the girls out,” Naama’s father Levy argued. 

In May, Ariev’s sister Sasha told the The Daily Mail that her sister had sent a farewell message to her family before the abduction on Oct. 7. 

"I could see the understanding in her eyes, and few minutes later she sent me a message that if she won't leave, if she won't make it out alive, she asked me to keep our parents safe and to be strong and not to wallow in sorrow but to continue living," Sasha recalled.