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Rescued Hamas Hostage Noa Argamani References Coachella While Urging Public to Visit Nova Exhibit
Noa Argamani attends the TIME100 gala, celebrating the magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, in New York City, US, April 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Noa Argamani urged the public on Thursday night to visit the Nova Festival exhibit commemorating the Hamas terrorist attack at the music event on Oct. 7, 2o23, while also calling for the release of the remaining hostages being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The 27-year-old, who is featured in the 2025 TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world, attended the 19th annual TIME100 Gala on Thursday night in New York City. During a red carpet interview with TIME, she spoke about her emotional visit to the exhibit “Nova: Oct. 7 6:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still” months earlier when it was open in New York City. The large-scale traveling exhibit about the Nova attack recently opened in Toronto after successful runs in Tel Aviv, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Argamani was abducted by Hamas terrorists during their deadly rampage at the Nova Music Festival in Re’im, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held captive in Gaza for 245 days until she was rescued by the Israel Defense Forces during a heroic operation in June 2024.
“Because I was at the Nova music festival and a lot of my friends were murdered, it was really difficult for me to come [to the exhibit] and see what happened to them,” Argamani said. “Because I carry a lot. I know my story and the story of my friends who have been murdered in captivity. It was too much to handle. Too much to carry.”
Nevertheless, she encouraged every person to visit the exhibit, before mentioning another major music event – the recent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She said about the exhibit: “I think it’s something everybody should [visit] because, as you saw what happened now in Coachella, these kids, I’m part of them, I come to the Nova music festival just to have fun, to dance, to enjoy my life … it’s definitely a pure situation. A party for peace and love.”
During the second weekend of Coachella earlier this month, the Irish rap trio Kneecap performed and at the end of their set, they projected three screens that featured anti-Israel messages. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” said one such message, followed by, “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” A third screen displayed the text: “F–k Israel. Free Palestine.” Also during the performance, band member Mo Chara talked about Palestinians being “bombed from the … skies with nowhere to go.” The band additionally led the audience to chant, “Free, free Palestine.”
On Thursday night, Argamani suggested that music festivals, like Coachella and Nova, should not get political. She said, “It’s important for people to come visit the exhibition and see that we just want to have fun. We’re not armed, we’re not political. We don’t get right [wing] or left [wing], we all just want to have fun. That’s the main idea of those festivals.”
When asked how she is dealing with the trauma of the Oct. 7 attack and her captivity, Argamani said, “It’s really hard for me because my partner is still in captivity.” Argamani’s boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was also taken hostage at the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists. He recently turned 32, his second birthday in captivity, and is one of 24 Hamas hostages whom Israel believes is still alive.
“I never saw him in captivity,” Argamani said about Or. “I asked about him everywhere I went, but they didn’t tell me nothing. I didn’t know if he’s alive or just kidnapped … I didn’t want to know the answer because it was too much for me.”
“But until Avinatan will come home, and all those 59 [remaining] hostages will come back, I will not heal,” she concluded. “I will push forward, and I will fight as much as I can so everybody will come back home.”
The post Rescued Hamas Hostage Noa Argamani References Coachella While Urging Public to Visit Nova Exhibit first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.