NEW YORK — Former Hamas hostage Naama Levy on Friday urged diplomats in New York Metropolis to make use of diplomacy and negotiations to free the captives nonetheless held in Gaza.
“I implore you, there isn’t a higher disaster to work towards ending, this insufferable state of affairs for the hostages. Diplomacy and settlement introduced me again. That very same diplomacy should convey again all of the individuals who can nonetheless be saved,” she mentioned.
Levy, freed in January in a ceasefire-hostage launch deal, spoke on the sidelines of the United Nations Normal Meeting at an occasion held by the Hostage Assist Worldwide advocacy group. The Normal Meeting’s Excessive-Degree Week begins on Monday.
The occasion was attended by representatives from the United Nations and from nations’ UN missions, together with Israel, the US, the UK and Germany.
Levy described being taken captive and held in Gaza.
“I suffered extreme malnutrition, indescribable starvation and plenty of untreated accidents. I used to be saved in insufferable, unsanitary situations with the fixed worry that every second could possibly be my final,” she mentioned, talking in English. “My time being held hostage will stay carved into my physique and soul for the remainder of my life.”
She mentioned of the hostages she met in Gaza who stay in captivity: “Their faces don’t depart me, their voices are silenced.”
Levy mentioned probably the most terrifying moments for her had been being moved between places throughout fight.
“I used to be pressured to run from home to deal with with my two captors, terrified and below fireplace. I might hear the gunshots and bullets whistling previous my ears. I ran as quick as I might, struggling to breathe, whereas my captors reloaded their weapons,” she mentioned.
“I used to be terrified for my life each single second. Being hidden above floor was horrible, however there’s nothing that may examine to the darkness and dread that the tunnels convey,” she mentioned. “It’s empty of oxygen. It feels unattainable to take a deep breath, and every time you attempt to, you choke from the shortage of air.”
Flanked by her dad and mom, freed hostage Naama Levy reacts after seeing her kinfolk in Rabin Medical Middle in Petah Tikva on January 25, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Levy known as for diplomacy and negotiations to free the captives. Information offered by Hostage Assist Worldwide confirmed {that a} plurality of hostage releases worldwide this 12 months, round 40 %, had been secured by way of negotiations, usually by way of captive exchanges. Following negotiated releases, ransom offers accounted for 35% of releases, and tactical rescues, 16%. Humanitarian releases had been uncommon, the group mentioned.
“The toughest instances, mentally, throughout my captivity had been the intervals when there was no information in any respect about negotiations,” Levy mentioned.
Launched hostage Naama Levy speaks at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Sq., on Might 24, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Professional-Democracy Protest Motion)
“Please act to discover a answer instantly. Save these harmless lives, for if you do, it’s as when you have saved the whole world. Carry all of them residence now,” she mentioned.
Levy was accompanied by her father in the course of the occasion, her solely public look throughout her go to to New York.
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, applauded Levy, saying, “The world first noticed you as a sufferer of cruelty, however you refused to be damaged. What they might not take was your dignity, what they might not erase was your braveness.”
Israeli envoy to the UN Danny Danon speaks at a hostages advocacy occasion, in New York Metropolis, September 19, 2025. (Luke Tress/Occasions of Israel)
He criticized the UN, saying Israel had introduced former hostages and the households of captives to boost consciousness, however “Too usually, we’re met with silence on the UN.”
“Generally with efforts to close voices down, generally with indifference, generally with false claims. Once they attempt to steadiness and to make the equation between the harmless victims and those who’re responsible, that’s unacceptable,” he mentioned.
He known as for a forceful response to hostage-taking.
“Hostages are freed solely when actual strain is utilized — navy, intelligence, diplomatic. Terrorists launch captives solely once they really feel weak,” he mentioned. “When their networks break, when their leaders fall, their grip loosens; that’s after we can have a deal, and we hope to have one other deal.”
Additionally in attendance had been Ronen and Orna Neutra, the dad and mom of Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli killed on October 7, 2023, and dragged into Gaza, the place his physique stays.
Left, Ronen Neutra, middle, Naama Levy, proper, Orna Neutra, at a hostages advocacy occasion in New York Metropolis, September 19, 2025. (Luke Tress/Occasions of Israel)
Ronen Neutra mentioned the household has been assembly with the administration in Washington, DC, together with with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, final week.
Neutra mentioned that they had inspired Rubio to place strain on Israel and Qatar to convey Hamas and Israel again to the negotiating desk.
Neutra mentioned the US is “critical about making an attempt to get to a deal, however sadly, I don’t see them placing sufficient strain on Netanyahu to finish the conflict.”
He criticized the Israeli strike in opposition to Hamas management in Qatar, saying the assault had foiled negotiations, and added that the household has had little contact with the Israeli authorities.
“It’s extraordinarily irritating to the households to be near a deal and to see Israel attacking and principally placing the negotiations once more on critical maintain whereas the Israeli military is meant to tackle Gaza Metropolis,” Neutra informed The Occasions of Israel. “There’s a large danger to the residing hostages to be killed.”
“Our son, who was born right here in america and grew up right here and determined to affix the IDF and do his share, he must be dropped at a correct burial in Israel. Israeli moms which can be sending their troopers to conflict must know that the Israeli authorities is taking good care of them,” he mentioned.
The physique of Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli citizen and ‘lone soldier’ was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
He identified that, previously eight months, no hostages have been launched in addition to American-Israeli Edan Alexander, who was launched below strain from the Trump administration.
“We really feel the important thing, finish of the day, has been held by Bibi Netanyahu and his steady jeopardizing of offers and increasing the conflict, claiming that it’s going to get the hostages,” he mentioned. ” It’s tremendous irritating, it’s dangerous, and it retains us as households 714 days below an ongoing terror assault that by no means ends, and it wants to come back to an finish.”
Hostage Assist Worldwide takes a world method to advocating for captives, and along with Levy, audio system included a former hostage of Iran and an ex-captive of the Islamic State.
The group mentioned that, this 12 months, the highest nations for hostage-taking had been Iran, Venezuela, Niger and Burkina Faso. Probably the most generally detained nationalities had been Individuals and British.
