Best of Today

Released Israeli hostage: I don't believe in peace


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On 7 October last year, Ada Sagi's life changed forever. The 75-year-old grandmother of six - who has spent most of her life working towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians - was having a morning coffee at home on the Nir Oz Kibbutz, on the border with Gaza, when suddenly several men working for Hamas burst into her home and forced her barefoot by gunpoint onto a motorbike and took her hostage, alongside scores of others.

The Arabic and Hebrew teacher who still supports students through her work, was imprisoned for 53 days at an apartment in Khan Younis until she was freed as part of a deal between the Israeli Government and Hamas.

In her first UK interview, Today's Emma Barnett speaks to Ada, six months on from her release. She shares the details of her ordeal; her thoughts about those who captured her, the global reaction and the actions of the Israeli government since last October. As a lifelong peace activist, right at the end of the conversation, she shares a stark view of the future as she sees it.

But Ada Sagi began by speaking about hearing security alarms going off in the kibbutz on the morning of 7 October, alerting her and the other hundreds of other residents they were under attack and then about the moment, men armed with Kalashnikovs, entered her home.

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