“Hamas Captor Proposed For Marriage, He Gave Me A Ring’’

An 18-year-old Israeli hostage, who was held captive by Hamas for about 50 days, on Thursday (Apr 25) revealed that one of the captors of the Palestinian militant group proposed to her for marriage. Noga Weiss was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7 when Hamas launched unprecedented attacks against Israel. She was released in a truce deal last year.

Noga, recalling the incident, said that the captor wanted to marry her and have kids.

“He gave me a ring on day 14 [in captivity], and I stayed with him until day 50,” The Times of Israel quoted Noga as saying.

“He told me, ‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay here with me and have my children’,” she recalled.

“I pretended to laugh so he wouldn’t shoot me in the head,” she further added.

However, Noga's mother Shiri, who was also abducted by the group on Oct 7, rejected the proposal and yelled at the captor until he understood. Noga was with her parents at home in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants broke through Israel and held thousands of people hostage.

Her 56-year-old father Ilan left the house at around 7:15 am to join the kibbutz emergency squad. However, he was never heard from again and was later confirmed dead.

“They started shooting at the door, something like 40 shots until they managed to get in. We saw the conversations on WhatsApp and understood what was happening. People were writing that their house was on fire and then stopped answering,” Noga said.

Shiri instructed Noga to hide under the bed thinking that upon barging inside the room the terrorists would not notice the 18-year-old and instead shoot the mother.

“I went under the bed, and they came in and took her. After they took her outside, I heard gunshots. I thought she was murdered and not kidnapped,” Noga said.

Noga, however, reunited with her mother several days later._WION