Ada Sagi, a 75-year-old Israeli woman, was among 10 Israelis and two Thais recently released after being taken hostage. Noam Sagi, Ada’s son, spoke with the BBC shortly before his mother’s release and described the experience as “psychological terror.” He also said that he plans to give his mother “the biggest hug” and remind her that they “never stopped fighting to get her back.” The hostages were released after a five-day truce, and Noam Sagi has been speaking with the BBC for the last 53 days.
Ada Sagi was one of nine women kidnapped and one of three members of a single family taken hostage. The family included Clara Marman, Gabriela Leimberg, and Leimberg’s 17-year-old daughter Mia. Ada was due to visit London for her 75th birthday before being taken hostage. Before her kidnapping, Ada had taught Arabic to others so they could communicate with their Palestinian neighbors. Her son said that Ada was a peace activist who had “fought all her life for good neighboring relationships.”
Noam Sagi has remained positive throughout his mother’s captivity but said that waiting to see if his mother’s name was on the list of hostages due to be released was like “Russian roulette to the heart.” He described the experience as excruciatingly painful and said that the wait had been a form of psychological terror. Ada, who lost her husband last year, is a daughter of Holocaust survivors who has faced unimaginable trauma in recent weeks.
Other hostages who were released included Tamar Metzger,2 Norlin Babdila, Rimon Kirsht, Ditza Hayman, Ophelia Edith Roitman, and Merav Tal. One of the hostages, Meirav Tal, was visiting her partner Yair, who remains in Hamas custody, along with his children Yagil and Or
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