How many hostages are left in Gaza and when can they be released?

On By Littum

When Hamas led the attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, about 250 people were taken into Gaza as hostages, including citizens of Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Thailand and other countries.

Among the prisoners were the bodies of 37 people killed in the attack, Israeli officials said. Now, about 100 hostages, alive and dead, are still being held in the enclave, officials say.

The cease-fire agreement announced Wednesday between Israel and Hamas will begin with an initial phase lasting six weeks and involve the release of 33 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The deal calls for Hamas to release three female hostages on Day 1, four more on Day 7 and 26 more over the next five weeks, according to a copy of the document obtained by The New York Times. The agreement still needs to be formally ratified by Israel’s cabinet.

Here’s a closer look at the hostage situation in Gaza.

Early in the war, Hamas released four hostages—two Israeli-American women, Judith Raanan, then 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, then 17, and two Israeli women, Nurit Cooper, then 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, then 85, citing for humanitarian reasons. More than 100 hostages were freed in November 2023 during a staggered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In return, around 240 Palestinians detained in Israel were released.

Eight hostages have been freed in Israeli military operations, including one in the first month of the war when the military rescued a soldier, Pvt. Ori Megidish, then 19, who had been abducted from his base.

In February 2024, a military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza freed two hostages: Fernando Simon Marman, then 60, and Louis Har, then 70.

In June, the Israeli military freed four people kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023: Noa Argamani, then 26; Almog Meir Jan, then 22; Andrey Kozlov, then 27; and Shlomi Ziv, then 41. Ms. Argamani’s case gained widespread attention after viral footage showed her being led into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle while shouting in desperation.

About 100 Palestinians were killed in the operation, according to Israeli authorities, but officials in Gaza put the death toll at more than 270, including 64 children. (No tolls distinguished between civilians and combatants.)

In August, the Israeli military rescued Farhan al-Qadi, then 52, a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, in an operation that killed at least 20 Gazans, local authorities said.

Of the 250 hostages, about three dozen were presumed dead early in the war, according to Israeli authorities.

Some of their bodies have since been found in Gaza and repatriated, while other prisoners initially believed to be alive were subsequently declared dead.

The findings have raised questions about the extent to which intense Israeli military operations targeting Hamas have also put the prisoners at risk.

The Israeli military mistakenly killed several hostages. In December 2023, the military said its soldiers mistakenly shot and killed three hostages who escaped from their captors in Gaza: Yotam Haim, 28, and Alon Shamriz, 26, who were taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza; and Samer Talalka, 24, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Am while he was at work.

Last July, Israel’s military retrieved the bodies of five hostages – two soldiers and three civilians aged 20 to 56. They were found in a tunnel shaft in southern Gaza.

Israeli officials said the prisoners were killed during the attack in October 2023 and their bodies taken as bargaining chips. The next month, Israeli forces said they had found the bodies of six hostages in a Gaza tunnel.

In September, the Israeli military found the bodies of six more hostages, aged 23 to 40, who it said had been killed in captivity. Among them was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August.

In March, the family of Itay Chen — a 19-year-old American born in Israel who served in the Israeli military — said they had learned he was killed on October 7, 2023.

In December, the family of Omer Neutra, 21, an Israeli-American serving in the Israeli military, said it had learned that he also was killed that October. His parents spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.

This month, the Israeli military said Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne were dead. Youssef Ziyadne, 53, was taken hostage from a kibbutz with three of his children, including his 23-year-old son Hamza and two teenagers, Bilal and Aisha, who were freed during the November 2023 ceasefire. The family is part of Israel’s Bedouin- Arab minority.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a speech Tuesday that seven Americans were still being held captive.

Edan Alexander and Sagui Dekel-Chen were believed to be alive as of December, according to the American Jewish Council.

A few of the remaining five were declared dead early in the war. Their bodies remain in Gaza.