Israeli forces in Gaza free captive IDF soldier
Pvt. Uri Magidish is reunited with her family, Oct. 30, 2023.
Photo: Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet)

She was reunited with her family.

JNS Staff Report
October 30, 2023

Israeli ground forces on Monday night freed a female Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Pvt. Ori Megidish was freed after she was kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on Oct. 7, the IDF said.

Following a medical exam, she was reunited with her family, the military added.

Megidish was among 243 people taken hostage by Hamas during its assault on Oct. 7, which left at least 1,400 people dead and more than 5,000 wounded. The terrorists have released four women.

She had been serving in the IDF’s Nahal Oz Base near the Gaza border as a spotter since her enlistment six months ago, Channel 12 reported.

IDF special operations soldiers and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents freed her, Channel 13 reported.

The state will “exhaust every possibility” to bring back the Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told relatives of the missing on Saturday.

The meeting in Tel Aviv lasted for some two hours, after which the families participated in a rally demanding the abductees’ return.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant dismissed a Hamas offer to exchange the Israelis being held in Gaza for thousands of Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli prisons as “psychological games.”

“If there is no military pressure on Hamas, nothing will progress,” Gallant told relatives of the hostages, according to a Defense Ministry statement. “The stories published by Hamas are part of its psychological games. Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us.”

On Monday, Hamas released footage showing three female Israeli hostages. The women in the video are confirmed to be Danielle Aloni, Rimon Kirsht and Lena Trupanob, according to Netanyahu’s office.

The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem called the video “cruel psychological propaganda by Hamas-ISIS.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Netanyahu appealed to “Lena Trupanob, Danielle Aloni and Rimon Kirsht, who were abducted by Hamas that commits war crimes.”

“I embrace you. Our hearts are with you and the other hostages. We are doing everything to bring all the hostages and missing people home,” wrote the prime minister.

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