First sign of life from hostage Avinatan Or

For the first time since his kidnapping: A first sign of life has arrived from Avinatan Or, the partner of Noa Argamani who was kidnapped with her from the Nova festival on October 7. This was reported tonight on N12.

The sign of life came following interrogations of hostages who recently returned from captivity and were held in central camps in the Gaza Strip. They reported that they, along with Avinatan, were held in harsh conditions, without food and with very little water.

Avinatan's kidnapping along with Argamani became widely known and became one of the symbols of the Black Saturday. Argamani was released in Operation Arnon on June 8 along with Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, and Almog Meir Jan. During the operation, Yamam fighter Arnon Zamora, for whom the operation is named, was killed.

During the past two months, since phase one of the hostage deal began, signs of life have been received from many hostages. As of tonight, 59 hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip, 35 of whom are classified as deceased and 24 alive.

Among the hostages: Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal - Hamas released a video of them watching their friends being released from a car. Matan Tzangauker, for whom Hamas gave his mother Einav an hourglass with a picture of her and her son Matan with the inscription: "Time is running out," thereby signaling that Matan is alive. Idan Alexander, an American citizen, "is in top priority for release," according to mediator Steve Witkoff.

The released hostages brought most of the peace demands from captivity: It was reported that Alon Ohel is chained and injured in his eye, Elkana Bohbot conveyed a message himself to his wife and son, and hostages reported that he is wounded.

In addition, signs of life were received from Nimrod Cohen, Bar Kuperstein, Ziv and Gali Berman, Omri Miran, David Cunio, Sagev Kalfon, Yosef Haim Ohana, and Matan Angrest. Hostage Yair Horn said that his brother Eitan was with him during the captivity period and he will do everything to free him.

Zvika Mor, father of Eitan Mor, said that a sign of life was received from his son but qualified: "We did not receive any details about his condition. I'm not even sure that this sign came from returning hostages, but from another source."

Last week, Sasha Trufanov, who returned from captivity, published a first sign of life from hostage Rom Breslavsky. Those for whom no signs of life have been published so far are Maxim Harkin, Ariel Cunio, and Tamir Nimrodi.