Daniella Gilboa has wasted no time in putting the joy back into her life after being released from 15 months in captivity in Gaza. She got engaged to her longtime boyfriend and sang at a party when she and other freed hostages left the hospital. <\/p>\n
But Orly knows that what she is seeing in these first days after Daniella\u2019s release is just the surface. \u201cThere are a lot of things under and I\u2019m sure that we can see them when the days go by.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the same for Naama Levy and Liri Albag, released alongside Daniella on January 25, their mothers said. They appear physically healthy, and they are home. But they were imprisoned in Gaza for 477 days and free less than three weeks, so much of their recovery is yet to come. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s back in her room,\u201d Ayelet Levy Shachar said of her daughter and her girly pink bedroom complete with soft toys. \u201cAlthough she does prefer to sleep with her mom at night.\u201d <\/p>\n
Naama, Liri and Daniella were all in their teens on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters stormed their outpost at Kibbutz Nahal Oz near the border with Gaza. <\/p>\n
They were performing their mandatory military service as unarmed \u201cspotters,\u201d tasked with looking at activity inside Gaza and reporting back to commanders at another base. <\/p>\n
Fifteen of their fellow spotters were killed in the surprise militant attack on communities and a music festival that left 1,200 Israelis dead and 250 kidnapped in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. The Israeli war on Hamas that followed has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, injured twice as many and leveled much of Gaza. <\/p>\n
Daniella, Liri and Naama were captured with four more young women: Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Ori Megidish and Noa Marciano. Ori was rescued weeks after the attack, while Noa was killed in Gaza. Karina was also released on January 25, while Agam was freed five days later. <\/p>\n
Video taken by Hamas on October 7 and later released by the women\u2019s families showed the female soldiers being lined up against a wall by men with rifles. Their hands were bound behind them, and they were ordered to sit, many still in their pajamas, their faces and bodies spattered with blood. <\/p>\n
On the day of the attack, with no word from Naama, Ayelet had first thought maybe her daughter was just unable to reach her in the chaos. But then she saw a video of Naama being dragged by her hair, her pants covered in blood, and being shoved into a vehicle. <\/p>\n
And unknown to her, her daughter saw it too. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe saw the video, she knew about it, and she did see myself and her father in different interviews,\u201d Ayelet said. \u201cShe heard sometimes on the radio her brother speaking, her grandfather speaking. It wasn\u2019t an everyday thing, but sometimes she was exposed to the media, and it did give her a lot of strength and support and helped her throughout those days. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe waited to catch a glimpse of one of us. She told me even that she was following with the color of my hair during this time,\u201d Ayelet added with a laugh. <\/p>\n
Naama was wounded by shrapnel that day. Some she was later able to pick out of her skin; the rest remains in her body, Ayelet said. <\/p>\n
Naama and Liri had only arrived at the outpost a couple of days before the attack, but Daniella had already been there nine months, her mom said. <\/p>\n
Orly knows Daniella was hit in the leg that day, but much else is still unknown. <\/p>\n