Freed Israeli Hostage Says Hamas Captor Wanted To Marry Her, Have Kids

Noga Weiss was at home in Kibbutz Be’eri when thousands of Hamas militants invaded Israel

New Delhi:

An 18-year-old Israeli woman, who was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 and held captive for 50 days, revealed that one of the Hamas captors wanted to marry her and wanted her to have his children.

Noga Weiss recalled that the man gave her a ring on day 14 [in captivity], and she stayed with him until day 50. He told me, “‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay here with me and have my children,’” according to The Times of Israel. “I pretended to laugh so he wouldn’t shoot me in the head,” she added. 

Noga Weiss was at home in Kibbutz Be’eri when thousands of Hamas militants invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. Her father, Ilan, 56, left home to join the kibbutz emergency team and never returned. It was later confirmed that he was killed that day and his body was taken into Gaza. 

Ms Noga revealed that the militants started shooting at the door — something like 40 shots until they managed to get in. She said she saw the conversations on WhatsApp and understood what was happening. People were writing that their house was on fire and then stopped answering, she added.

Ms Weiss’ mother, Shiri, 53, urged her daughter to hide under the bed, thinking the militants, upon seeing, would kill her but Noga would be safe. “Mom told me to get under the bed, she thought, ‘Let them come and shoot her straight away.’ I went under the bed, and they came and kidnapped her. After they took her out, I heard gunshots, I thought she was murdered and not kidnapped,” Ms Noga said.

However, Ms Shiri was also kidnapped and taken to Gaza on October 7. She was reunited with her daughter after several days. Ms Noga said that a woman dressed as an Arab entered, and she realised it was her mother. “I thought they killed her, I thought I was alone. Suddenly she’s alive, and I’m no longer alone,” she said.

However, Ms Noga revealed that her mother was only brought to her because one of the kidnappers wanted to marry her. One of the Hamas members said he loved me and wanted to marry me, Ms Noga said, adding they brought her mother so she would approve of the marriage.

Her mother tried to politely decline the proposal, yet, when he started insisting despite her rejection, Ms Shiri had to shout until he relented, recounted Meytal, one of Ms Noga’s sisters. 

Talking about the fateful day, Ms Noga said she tried to run and hide from the terrorists, but one of them spotted her and took her outside to the yard. “Something like 40 terrorists were around me with Kalashnikov [rifles], they handcuffed me; I saw bodies of people I know from the kibbutz. After a few minutes, they put me in a car and started driving.”

She described how thousands of people, including children, tried to beat her and cheered as the car entered Gaza, “I didn’t understand why they were delaying shooting me,” she said.

Ms Noga and her mother were released from captivity on November 25th.

Noga Weiss later said that she couldn’t “digest it, neither then nor now. People don’t understand the feeling of fear. I was 50 days, 24/7, with the thought that they would get tired and come shoot me, or they wouldn’t need me in the end. Let’s say at night they lock us in the room, so they open the door in the middle of the night and shoot us without us knowing.” 

She added that she can’t mourn her father as long as there are hostages in the strip. “They are there for an indescribable amount of time. At one point, they brought us half a litre of water for two days. It does not make sense. You can’t survive like this for 200 days.”