After practically a yr of captivity, the destiny of the 64 hostages believed to be nonetheless alive within the Gaza Strip, Hamas' primary negotiating software for a ceasefire and the discharge of Palestinian prisoners, is very unsure.
On October 7, 2023, throughout unprecedented attack by Hamas In southern Israel, 251 individuals, a few of whom at the moment are useless, had been kidnapped and brought to Gaza.
From this complete, 117 individuals, principally girls, youngsters and international employees, regained their freedom, principally throughout the only ceasefire of the conflictwhich lasted one week on the finish of November 2023.
Virtually a yr later, till September 24, 2024, 97 individuals stay captive: 64 are believed to be alive and 33 have been declared useless by the army Israeli.
A march to ask the Israeli authorities to launch the hostages nonetheless in Gaza. Picture: REUTERSAmong the many hostages believed to be nonetheless alive, 57 are Israelis, of whom a minimum of 20 are twin nationals. Six are Thai and one Nepalese.
Fifty-two hostages are males and ten girls, together with 5 feminine troopers. A complete of 11 troopers stay prisoners.
Two youngsters, brothers Kfir and Ariel Bibasare believed to be nonetheless alive, as are their mother and father Shiri and Yarden Bibas.
rescues
For the reason that finish of the ceasefire, on December 1, 2023, solely seven hostages have been freed within the rescue operations of the Israeli military.
The newest was Kaid Farhan Alkadi, launched on August 27 within the southern Gaza Strip.
Due to lack of proof of lifeit’s not identified if the 64 hostages believed to be nonetheless alive are literally alive.
Hamas introduced on August 12 that its fighters had “killed a hostage” and “wounded two feminine hostages” in “incidents”, with out naming them.
Beforehand, the ultra-Islamic Palestinian motion had a number of instances introduced the deaths of hostages, which Israel has not confirmed, together with these of Kfir Biba (one yr outdated), his older brother Ariel (5 years outdated) and his mom.
The empty chairs, as a logo of the individuals kidnapped by Hamas within the bloody assault of October 7. Picture: AP Killed civilians and troopers
A number of the hostages had been already useless once they had been taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023, together with ten troopers.
At the least 28 different hostages taken alive have died in Gaza. Three of them, Yotam Haim (28), Samer Al Talalqa (25) and Alon Lulu Shamriz (26), had been mistakenly killed by Israeli military hearth on December 15, 2023.
The Israeli army accuses Hamas of executing six different individuals in August: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino, who had been discovered useless by troopers in a tunnel in Rafah, south of the Strip. of Gaza.
A lot of the hostages in Gaza believed to be nonetheless alive had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Ouncesor at the Tribe of Nova music festival.
Nir Ounceswas the one group that recorded extra hostages (greater than 70) than deaths (greater than 40), together with international employees.
The Tribe of Nova music pageant, attended by greater than three,000 individuals, passed off between Kibbutz Reim and Beeri, very near the border with the Gaza Strip.
In complete, At the least 370 individuals had been massacred on the spot and 43 had been kidnapped. of which solely 9 have returned alive thus far.
In some circumstances, the November 2023 ceasefire freed sure members of a household, however not all.
This was the case of Franco-Israeli youngsters Nir Oz, Eitan Yahalomi – whose father Ohad stays a captive – and Erez and Sahar Kalderon, whose father Ofer stays kidnapped in Gaza.