A year and seven months have passed since Ori Magidish was the first hostage in Gaza to be rescued from captivity in Gaza by IDF forces.

Channel 12’s Uvda program broadcast an interview with Ori on Wednesday in which she revealed new details of her harrowing ordeal and spoke about the emunah that sustained her.

She spoke about the morning of October 7: “We saw 30-40 terrorists entering the bomb shelter in euphoria; they were in the happiest state possible. They walked in and smiled; I can’t forget their smiles. I don’t even remember what they look like, but I remember they were smiling. And they looked at us, and they checked who was alive and who wasn’t. They began lifting up the ones who were alive—me and Noa [Marciano, H’yd], and all the girls who were abducted—and lining us up against the wall. I looked at the other girls who were no longer alive, and I said to myself, ‘Why am I on this side and they’re on that side?’

Ori said that she then accidentally made eye contact with one of the terrorists. “He pointed at me, and they took me first. They put me in an IDF jeep and told me to bend down and quickly get into the front of the vehicle.”

At that point, Ori was unaware that her best friend, Noa Marciano, H’yd, who was later murdered in captivity, was in the back of the jeep. The terrorists also put Naama Levy in the jeep. When they were deep inside Gaza, Ori and Naama were separated from Noa and transferred to a hideout apartment.

Ori spoke about the emunah that sustained her while she was in Gaza. “I had emunah that Hashem was by my side, that He’s watching me and would get me out of there.”

She said that she repeatedly searched for signs from Shamayim. “I would ask a question: that if I need to get out of here, let there be a boom. And then there was a boom. There were all sorts of signs.”

Another time, she asked Hashem to see a butterfly as a sign from Shamayim. “Suddenly, one of the captors took out a toy in the shape of a very colorful butterfly. I started to smile. I  felt that He was with me.”

On her third Shabbos in Gaza, the Air Force bombings damaged the apartment she was in. “The ceiling collapsed on us, and the whole house was on fire. One of the captors died at that moment. I didn’t even feel like I was injured. I put my hands on my face, and I saw there was blood, but I didn’t realize the extent of my injuries.” She would find out later that she had suffered a fractured skull.

The only terrorist who survived left the apartment with her. Another terrorist then came with an ambulance and brought them to a nearby hospital, where she suffered excruciating pain as the doctors stitched her face and head without anesthesia.

“I kind of start to lose my balance, the whole room is spinning. One of the doctors spoke to me in English and told me that they’re going to stitch my head and face now. They start cleaning the area around my mouth, and they don’t numb the area. It was pain that was indescribable; I have never felt such pain. And I try to hold on to something. I have nothing to hold onto; everyone pushes my hands away, they tell me to be quiet, they tell me not to scream.”

After a long night in the Gazan hospital, terrorists transferred her to a new hideout apartment.

Ori said that she was terrified of being rescued because the terrorists told her they would kill her. “I knew that as soon as there was a rescue, they were going to kill me. They said that if there were Israeli soldiers at the door, they would kill me first.”

At 2 a.m. on the night of her rescue, Ori was asleep and woke up from a noise. “I heard an exchange of fire outside. When I realized something was happening, I ran behind the refrigerator, and I curled up with my head between my knees. I shouted in Hebrew; I don’t know why, but I felt, I don’t know, that it was a rescue.”

When she opened her eyes, she saw a special forces soldier facing her (without a uniform or any othe identification) who looked like he could be a local Gazan. “It’s a conflict that I still think about, that I have no idea, they could have kidnapped me again, to that extent. It could have been another person who came to kidnap me, but I went with him; he took me, and we ran.”

Ori and the soldiers arrived at the vehicle. “They start driving and speak to me in Hebrew. The one who took me spoke to me and checked to see if I was injured. I remember exchanging glances with him, and I see how emotional he is. Only after I returned and settled in a bit did I realize that for the people who rescued me, it was also finally a breath of fresh air after such a period.”

Ori went through a difficult period after receiving the news that her best friend, Noa Marciano, H’yd, was murdered in Gaza.

“When I returned, it was hard for me that I was here and she was still there, and I just waited to hear from her and expected her to return too, and we would talk about it, to be with someone else who experienced the same thing as me. She was injured and arrived at a hospital, to Shifa. One of the doctors simply ended her life because that’s what he decided. We have a pretty similar story, only her ending is different. It ate me up at first. Why is her ending like that and my ending like this?”

Uvda noted that Ori cannot yet reveal all the details about her rescue, as it is still under military censorship.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)