"Life is strawberries": How Liri Albag turned Hanan Ben Ari's hit song into a survival anthem

In the midst of their captivity in Gaza, 20-year-old Liri Albag took Israeli singer Hanan Ben Ari's upbeat hit "Our Life is Strawberries" and gave it a darkly defiant new chorus: "You have no right at all to complain, you're not in captivity so don't play victim, because your life is strawberries."

These words, penned in what became her survival songbook, emerged Tuesday night at Jerusalem's Menora Hall, where Ben Ari himself stood on stage, visibly moved as he shared Albag's story with her permission. The young lookout, who just celebrated her 20th birthday, had transformed his sunny pop anthem into something altogether different – a survivor's manifesto.

But it was his other song, "Amen for the Children," that became a nightly ritual of hope. In the darkness of captivity, two mothers who had no idea if their children were alive would listen as Albag's voice rose in prayer each night and morning. "Zero knowledge of what was happening with their children," Ben Ari told the hushed concert hall, his voice catching. Those mothers were later released in the first exchange deal to find their children safe – a prayer answered.

Last week, Ben Ari spent two hours with five recently released female lookouts – Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Agam Berger. They sat holding hands as they shared their stories, most of which Ben Ari says must remain private. But what he could share paints a portrait of young women who found strength in melody when everything else was taken from them.

For Albag, who should have been enjoying her carefree college years, music became both shield and sword – a way to protect the vulnerable and defy her captors through the simple act of singing. Her rewritten lyrics, sharp and unflinching, reveal a wisdom far beyond her twenty years.

"They sat there, holding each other's hands, for two hours," Ben Ari said of his hospital meeting with the former hostages. In that gesture of unity, in their shared songs of darkness and hope, lies a story of resilience that no caption or headline could fully capture.

Ynet contributed to this article.