Ex-POW Of Hamas Says She Most Feared Israeli Bombs, Not Her Captors

An Israeli intelligence soldier who was taken prisoner by Hamas during the militant group's Oct 7 2023 invasion of Israel says the greatest threat to her life during her 477 days in captivity came from the Israeli bombing campaign -- and not the men who were holding her. In a speech at a Tel Aviv rally demanding an end to Israel's war in Gaza as well as new elections, 20-year-old Naama Levy gave a visceral account of what it was like to live under constant Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombardment: 

“They come by surprise. First you hear a whistle, pray it doesn’t fall on you, and then — the booms, a noise loud enough to paralyze you. The earth shakes. I was convinced every single time that I was finished, and it’s also what put me in the greatest danger: one of the bombardments collapsed part of the house I was in. The wall I was leaning on didn’t collapse, and that’s what saved me.”

Adding her voice to the many in Israel that want an end to the obliteration of Gaza and the return of their fellow citizens held captive, Levy noted that the detainees continued to live the hellish existence she did:

"That was my reality, and now it’s their reality. At this very moment, there are hostages who hear those same whistles and booms, shaking with fear. They have nowhere to run, they can only pray and cling to the wall while feeling a horrible powerlessness.”

Levy said she also endured another kind of pain being intentionally inflicted on every man, woman and child in Gaza -- hunger and thirst:  

“There were entire days without food and little water. One day, I had nothing left, not even water. Fortunately, it started raining. My captors put a pot outside the house where I was held, and the rain filled it. I drank that rain water, which was enough for a pot of rice. That’s what kept me going.”

She enjoyed a weekly glimpse into what has happening back home in Israel: Her captors let her watch television every Saturday. She said the images of Israeli protesters pushing for the release of civilian hostages and prisoners of war buoyed her spirits. "I saw thousands standing here wrapped in flags, shouting, singing, holding pictures of the hostages, including mine. You made me feel that I was not forgotten," she said. 

According to a new poll conducted by Israel's Channel 12, 55% of Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top priority is staying in power. When asked why Netanyahu has not allowed another deal for the remaining captives, 53% say the reasons are political. “An eternal, politically-motivated war is preferable [to him] over the return of civilians kidnapped on his watch," said Einav Zangauker before Saturday night's rallies across the country; his son is among the Israelis still in Gaza.   

Netanyahu's detractors attribute his continuation of the war in the face of rising global condemnation to various self-serving factors, including wanting to forestall a full inquiry into his government's failure to prevent the Oct 7 attacks, and appeasing the more extreme members of his ruling coalition -- such as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich -- who want to ethnically cleanse most of Gaza.  

Levy's removal from an IDF outpost on Oct 7 was memorably caught on video. Amid a social media and propaganda frenzy that saw false and unsubstantiated claims go viral on social media and readily parroted by government officials, many observers insisted that dark stains on the seat of Levy's sweatpants had to indicate she'd been sexually abused. However, Levy has never alleged that she was sexually assaulted on October 7 nor during her 15 months in Gaza. Nonetheless, Wikipedia continues to baselessly assert that "images from the footage [of Levy's capture] demonstrated sexual and gender based violence against Israeli women during the attacks." 

In a different misleading vein, many descriptions of Levy's capture referred to it as a "kidnapping," ignoring the fact that Levy was serving as an active-duty IDF soldier in a military compound. ABC News went so far as to describe Levy and her fellow intel soldiers as "five girls taken hostage." 

Levy was one of five female surveillance soldiers released by Hamas in January 2025. While they were being held, peers in her surveillance role blew the whistle on their superiors: Soldiers of the IDF's Combat Intelligence Corps said that, for at least three months before the attacks, they observed Hamas members conducting paramilitary training along the fenceline, digging holes, studying the area with maps, examining the ground surface and even placing and detonating explosives. They said their warnings went unheeded by IDF higher-ups.