'We fought to get her back,' son says as more hostages released

Noam Sagi views a recent photograph of himself with his mother AdaReuters

Noam Sagi views a recent photograph of himself with his mother Ada

By Lucy Manning
Special Correspondent, BBC News

The son of 75-year-old hostage Ada Sagi has told BBC News he plans to give her the biggest hug and tell her "how hard we fought" for her release.

Ada Sagi was among 10 Israelis - nine women and a girl - and two Thais released on the fifth day of the truce.

We spoke to British-Israeli Noam Sagi just after his mother and the others were handed over to the Red Cross on Tuesday evening.

"It really is a beautiful, amazing moment," he said.

Ada was released alongside: Tamar Metzger, 78; Ditza Hayman, 84; Norlin Babdila, 60; Ophelia Edith Roitman, 77; Rimon Kirsht, 36; and Merav Tal, 53.

Three members of one family were also freed: Clara Marman, 63; Gabriela Leimberg, 59; and Mia Leimberg, 17.

"It's such a huge relief," said Noam Sagi. "I've just finished a video call with her. She's sharp, she's funny, she's witty. She's her own self. I'm over the moon.

"I just want to feel her and hug her and I want her to know how hard we fought to get to this day and she will know forever how loved she is."

He said she "looks good, she was very happy" But he says there's a lot she doesn't know.

"She doesn't know she doesn't have a home to go back to, she doesn't know so many of her friends were murdered."

"We will have to pick up the puzzle and put everything in place... but for now, today, it's really just about the joy," he added.

I first met Noam at his home in north London two days after his mum was taken from her home in the kibbutz of Nir Oz, near Israel's border with Gaza. He played us a video filmed by Hamas that showed gunmen on the grass outside his mum's house and her car on fire.

He has since met the UK prime minister, MPs, talked at rallies and spoken to diplomats and the Red Cross to try and get his mum released.

Before she was kidnapped, Ada, an Arabic speaker, had taught others Arabic so they could communicate with their Palestinian neighbours.

She was, her son said, a peace activist and part of a community who "fought all their lives for good neighbouring relationships". Ada had been due to visit London for her 75th birthday the week after she was kidnapped.

Watch: Son of released hostage describes the hug he'll give his mother

Speaking earlier, he told the BBC that waiting to see if she would be among those released amounted to "psychological terror".

"Every night waiting like a leaf for a list.. Are we in? Are we out? It's been excruciatingly painful," he said, describing it as "Russian roulette to the heart".

While some people tore down posters showing those kidnapped from walls in the UK, Noam was talking to the lampposts that had pictures of his mum on.

The other hostages released on Tuesday included 84-year-old Ditza Heiman, one of the founders of kibbutz Nir Oz, which Hamas attacked on 7 October.

Also kidnapped from Nir Oz was Ofelia Roitman, 77, who moved to Israel from Argentina in the 1980s.

She sent a message pleading for help as Hamas attacked. Her daughter said in a video that a search of her house afterwards had found other bodies, but she was missing.

family handout

Meirav Tal was released but her partner is still in Gaza

Clara Merman, Gabriela Leimberg and her daughter Mia were among a group of five Argentinian-Israelis who had been hiding in their safe room, according to one of the group's daughter who was texting with her father.

Noralin "Nataly" Babadilla, 60, was visiting Kibbutz Nirim, to celebrate the community's 70th anniversary. Her husband was murdered. Her younger brother, Exo, told the Bring Them Home website that her last words to him were: "I'm shaking; maybe I won't come home."

Meanwhile Meirav Tal, 53, had been visiting her partner Yair in Nir Oz. The couple were kidnapped along with Yair's children Yagil and Or, who were released on Monday. Yair remains in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

More on Israel-Gaza war

Related topics

More on this story