When Hamas led the Oct. 7, 2023, raids into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, about 250 people were taken into Gaza as hostages, including citizens of Israel, the United States, Britain, Mexico, Thailand and other countries.
Among the captives were the bodies of 37 people killed in the attack, Israeli officials said. Now, about 100 hostages, living and dead, are still being held in the enclave, officials say.
The cease-fire deal announced on Wednesday between Israel and Hamas would begin with an initial phase lasting six weeks, and involve the release of 33 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The agreement requires 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 deal still has to be formally ratified by Israel’s cabinet.
Here’s a closer look at the hostage situation in Gaza.
How many hostages have already been released?
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 humanitarian reasons. More than 100 hostages were freed in November 2023 during a staggered truce between Israel and Hamas. In exchange, about 240 Palestinians held in Israel were released.
How many hostages have been rescued?
Eight hostages have been freed in Israeli military operations, including one in the first month of the war, when the military rescued one soldier, Pvt. Ori Megidish, then 19, who had been abducted from her base.
In February 2024, a military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah 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 Oct. 7, 2023: Noa Argamani, then 26; Almog Meir Jan, then 22; Andrey Kozlov, then 27; and Shlomi Ziv, then 41. Ms. Argamani’s case received outsize attention after viral footage showed her being taken into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle as she cried out in desperation.
About 100 Palestinians were killed during the operation, according to the Israeli authorities, but officials in Gaza put the death toll at more than 270, including 64 children. (Neither toll 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.
How many hostages have died?
Of the 250 hostages, about three dozen were presumed dead early in the war, according to the Israeli authorities.
Some of their bodies have since been found in Gaza and repatriated, while other captives initially believed to be alive were subsequently declared killed.
The discoveries have raised questions about the extent to which intense Israeli military operations targeting Hamas have also endangered the captives.
The Israeli military has killed several hostages in error. In December 2023, the military said its soldiers had mistakenly shot and killed three hostages who fled 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 at work.
Last July, Israel’s military retrieved the bodies of five hostages — two soldiers and three civilians, ages 20 to 56. They were found in a tunnel shaft in southern Gaza.
Israeli officials said the captives were killed during the October 2023 attack and their bodies taken as bargaining chips. The next month, Israeli forces said they had recovered the bodies of six hostages in a Gaza tunnel.
In September, the Israeli military recovered the bodies of another six hostages, ages 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 was serving in the Israeli military — said it had learned he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023.
In December, the family of Omer Neutra, 21, an Israeli-American serving in the Israeli military, said it had learned he, too, 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 truce in November 2023. The family is part of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority.
How many hostages are Americans?
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, in a speech on Tuesday, said 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.
