Hamas to release IDF hostage Agam Berger for Gaza ceasefire – Israel News

Agam Berger was named on Friday as one of the four hostages set to be released on Saturday by Hamas as part of the second week of the first phase of a hostage-ceasefire deal.

Last week, Hamas released 28-year-old Emily Damari, 23-year-old Romi Gonen, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher

Berger, now 20, was abducted on October 7 and taken to Gaza while still in her pajamas. 

With constant disruptions to reporting and the chaos inflicted during Hamas’s attacks, the family only discovered the Berger had been abducted on October 8. It was Berger’s father who uncovered what had happened to the then-19-year-old as he discovered footage of her abduction on a Hamas Telegram channel.

Berger was abducted alongside Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy from the Nahal Oz base when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023.

“My daughter is 19. She is a teenager. I cannot imagine what went through her mind when she saw this happening in front of her,” her father told the Media Line, while describing some of the testimonies he was told of Hamas’s brutality against soldiers.

Merav Berger, the mother of Berger, previously told Israeli media that she believed her daughter was behind the braids worn by released hostages.

The Hidabroot channel ran a report last year in which Merav was recorded saying that her daughter “braided the hair of the other women before their release.”

“It [the braider] was Agam who was braiding the hair of the girls she knows are being released while she stays behind.”

Before October 7

Before being abducted to Gaza, Berger was known as a talented violinist who loved to travel. She also volunteered with children with disabilities.

Berger’s dedication to her family revealed itself, even as she remained captive. Her father claimed that released hostage Agam Goldstein-Almog had called him on his birthday – under the instruction of his daughter – to send her well wishes to him.