The scream is what the world remembers.
asserted
world → remember → what
Noa Argamani is on the back of a motorcycle, being driven towards Gaza, her arms outstretched as she cries: 'Don't kill me.'
asserted
she → drive → me
That image, splashed across the front page of the Mail on Sunday, became famous around the world.
asserted
image → splash → world
A few yards away, her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, 33, is being frog marched through the fields by men from Gaza and utterly helpless.
asserted
boyfriend → march → Gaza
The footage lasts only seconds.
asserted
footage → last → ?
But it would become one of the defining images of the October 7 attack, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, leaving 1,200 dead and 251 hostages taken into Gaza.
asserted
it → become → Gaza
Now, on the third anniversary of that day, Or has described for the first time how he and Argamani, his girlfriend of more than a year, fled the Nova music festival before being torn apart for more than two years.
asserted
he → describe → years
Or has also revealed how he endured years in isolation deep beneath Gaza and secretly dug his own tunnel in a desperate attempt to escape — only to be caught and brutally tortured by his captors.
asserted
he → reveal → captors
He tells of his daring escape attempt and his time in captivity in his newly released memoir, 'Through the Earth,' an immediate number one bestseller in Israel soon to be translated into English.
asserted
He → tell → English
'We drove out from the festival area and we tried to get to the main road,' Or told us.
asserted
Or → drive → us
Footage of Noa Argamani's kidnapping at the Nova music festival, where almost 400 partygoers were killed, was one of the first videos of the October 7 massacre to surface
Avinatan Or, 33, spoke to the Daily Mail about his 738 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza
Or's relationship with Argamani, which had become known around the world because of those haunting images from October 7, ultimately did not survive their ordeal
'
asserted
which → kill → ordeal
They started shooting at us, and then we turned around and drove into the field.
asserted
we → start → field
And we found this place and we hid inside this ditch.
asserted
we → find → ditch
For roughly two hours, the couple remained hidden in silence.
asserted
couple → remain → silence
'Actually, we didn't speak,' Or said.
asserted
we → speak → ?
'While we were in the car, I thought—I don't know—I'm proud of her because she did very, very well.
asserted
she → think → her
She didn't get stressed and she kept very cool.
asserted
she → get → ?
'I told her: "Nice job, and I'm very proud of you."
asserted
I → tell → you
And when we were hiding, we were just quiet, without speaking, with our eyes.'
At around 10.30am, they heard dreaded footsteps and Arabic.
'I heard one guy come to us,' Or recalled.
asserted
guy → hide → us
'I heard the steps.
asserted
I → hear → steps
And then we knew we would be found.
asserted
we → know → ?
When he saw us he shouted: 'There are Jews here.''
asserted
he → see → us
Or said he heard Argamani scream and tried to help her escape, but the couple were surrounded.
asserted
couple → say → ?
'Suddenly, I heard Noa scream, and I turned around and I tried to just get to her—I tried to help her to escape,' he said.
asserted
he → hear → her
'Many were surrounding us.
asserted
Many → surround → us
They started to take us into Gaza.'
asserted
They → start → Gaza
The couple were marched on foot for about 15 minutes.
asserted
couple → march → minutes
As they moved towards the border, Or says he kept looking upwards, desperately searching the sky for an aircraft and the ground for any sign of Israeli forces.
asserted
he → move → forces
But he didn't see anything.
asserted
he → see → anything
Then, when they were perhaps 100 or 200 metres from the border, a motorcycle arrived and Argamani was taken away.
asserted
Argamani → arrive → border
It is here that the footage seen around the world begins: Argamani is driven away screaming on the motorcycle, reaching for Or.
asserted
Argamani → see → Or
Just metres away, Or is restrained by a large group of men, his hands bound behind his back.
asserted
hands → restrain → back
'In that situation, I know that there's nothing I can do because I'm surrounded by maybe 25 people,' he said.
asserted
he → know → people
'In the video, you can see four or five of them.'
asserted
you → see → them
He understood that fighting back would probably mean his death.
asserted
fighting → understand → death
'We were surrounded, and I understood that screaming and starting to fight was not an option because it would be the end.
asserted
it → surround → ?
'
Watching Argamani being taken away left him with a crushing sense of helplessness.
asserted
Argamani → watch → helplessness
'It was my job to protect her,' he remembered thinking, 'and there wasn't anything I could do about it.'
uncertain
I → protect → it
Then the motorcycle disappeared.
asserted
motorcycle → disappear → ?
What happened to Or immediately afterwards was never captured by the infamous video.
'And just after they took her, they started to lynch me.
asserted
they → happen → me
…and 82 more, not listed.
The Aporia
