“First and foremost, I want to say thank you to the people who for a year and three months supported my family, did not give up, or lose hope for a moment,” released hostage Daniella Gilboa said on Instagram on Sunday.
Gilboa was released from Hamas captivity just over a week ago, along with three other IDF observers taken captive with her from the Nahal Oz IDF base.
She also thanked supporters for waiting and for praying for her during her captivity, adding that this was her “final wish” before being taken hostage.
“I didn’t want to give up and say goodbye, so instead, I prayed and believed with all my heart that my end was not there – in that shelter.”
She described praying for 30 minutes for all the women with her in the shelter, adding that this was the best thing she felt she could do.
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Bring them home
“I couldn’t hold on to the security that the army might give me and might come to protect me. I couldn’t hold on to the security that the shelter might provide because it wasn’t just missiles. At that moment, I also couldn’t hold on to the few armed women who were there. I knew that the only thing that could save us was faith.”
Gilboa added that she and the other observers who were freed in the hostage deal – Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, and Agam Berger – said the Hagomel blessing (expressing gratitude) on Saturday.
“I waited for that moment from the day I survived October 7 – to thank God, who against all odds saved us from the worst.”
Gilboa also thanked her family and boyfriend, as well as the “heroic soldiers who fought with massive courage and those who gave their lives with one goal in front of them: to find and bring everyone home.
“With the help of God, we will very soon get to see everyone home,” she added, saying that “we must not give up now.”
“It’s not over because there are still people who need to come back, and who knows better than I that you, the people of Israel who fight with all your strength, are the ones giving them that small hope in the great darkness.”