October 7 · Personal story
Noa Marciano
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nahal Oz IDF base on Israel’s Gaza border.
Current outcome
Returned for burial · November 17, 2023
The IDF said Noa was injured by a strike on November 9, that the injury was not life-threatening, and that she was later murdered at Shifa Hospital. On November 17, the IDF announced that troops had recovered her body from a structure adjacent to Shifa and transferred it to Israel; she was buried in Modi’in that day.
01
Life before
Noa was born in Modi’in on October 12, 2004, the eldest child of Adi and Avi Marciano and older sister to Yuval, Hadar and Itay. She attended Ilan Ramon elementary school and Mota Gur High School, where she studied geography, cyber and theater. She loved reading, singing and dancing, performed onstage and directed a school play. She volunteered as a youth guide in a nature and field studies movement and was an outstanding student. Her memorial says she greeted her school guard by name and sometimes brought coffee to a street cleaner. Friend May remembered that when Noa learned she felt alone, Noa returned with a cake and made her birthday feel celebrated.
02
October 7
Noa enlisted on April 16, 2023, and served as a land collection observer in Battalion 414 of the Border Defense Corps. She was posted at the Nahal Oz base. At 6:29 a.m. on October 7, rockets began; Noa was in the shelter with other women soldiers as Hamas fighters attacked the post. Seven women survived the assault on the shelter and were abducted to Gaza, including Noa. She was 18, five days before her nineteenth birthday. Before the attack, her commanders had recommended her for further responsibility, and she was expected to return to command training. Her family and friends later remembered her as someone who sought connection and looked after people around her.
03
Captivity
The IDF later reported that an airstrike on November 9 injured Noa and neutralized the captor with her. It said the injury was not life-threatening and that a Hamas terrorist later murdered her at Shifa Hospital. Her parents had been asking for information about her condition while she was held.
04
Return
On November 17, 2023, the IDF announced that troops had found Noa’s body in a building adjacent to Shifa Hospital and transferred it to Israel. Noa was buried in the military cemetery in Modi’in that day. Her parents had spent the preceding weeks asking for news. Her sister Yuval and the rest of the family gathered at the funeral.
05
Family and remembrance
In a public statement on November 16, before Noa’s body had returned, her mother Adi remembered a daughter who loved music and books and brought warmth to the house. Her family recalled small acts between siblings: Noa did Hadar’s makeup each Purim and watched Disney films with Itay. Her friend May remembered the birthday cake Noa brought when she realized May felt alone at a new school. Noa’s memorial also preserves her daily greetings to the school guard and street cleaner. Those gestures sit beside her work as an observer and her plans for command training, carrying a life of friendships, family routines and chosen service.