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Freed Hostage Naama Levy Urges UNGA Delegates to Pursue Negotiated Releases

Her 477-day ordeal underpins a plea for urgent negotiations.

Overview

  • Levy spoke at Hostage Aid's UNGA80 side event in New York, calling on diplomats to prioritize securing releases for people still held in Gaza.
  • She said she was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, violently dragged from a vehicle and displayed before a hostile crowd under gunfire.
  • Her account detailed periods without food or water, severe malnutrition, untreated injuries, isolation and frequent moves between hiding places.
  • She described the tunnel network as uniquely harrowing, citing darkness, lack of oxygen and pervasive mold, and said many captives remain there.
  • Levy credited her January 25 release to a negotiated agreement and said the hardest moments were when there was no news about talks.