Of the 251 people or remains captured, 117 people, mainly women, children and foreign workers, were released.
AFP
On October 7, 2023, during Hamas’ unprecedented attack on southern Israel, commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement took 251 people or captured remains to Gaza. Of this total, 117 people, mainly women, children and foreign workers, regained their freedom, mainly during the only truce in the conflict, which lasted a week at the end of November.
As of October 7, 2024, the first anniversary of the Hamas attack and the start of the war in the Palestinian territory, 97 people are still held captive there, including 63 presumed alive, 34 having been declared dead by the Israeli army or the Hostage Families Forum. The death of Idan Shtivi (28 years old) is the latest to have been announced, this Monday.
Among the hostages still presumed alive, 56 are Israelis, including at least 24 dual nationals, six are Thai and one Nepalese. Among them, 51 are men and ten are women, including five soldiers. A total of eleven soldiers presumed alive remain captive. Two children, brothers Kfir and Ariel, kidnapped at eight months and four years respectively, remain presumed alive, as well as their parents Shiri and Yarden Bibas.
Since the end of the truce on December 1, 2023, only seven other hostages have found freedom, during rescue operations by the Israeli army. The latest is Kaid Farhan Alkadi, released on August 27 in the south of the Gaza Strip. In the absence of proof of life, it is not certain that all the 63 hostages presumed alive are still alive.
Hamas announced on August 12 that its fighters had “killed a hostage” and “wounded two female hostages” in “incidents”, without naming them. Previously, the movement had announced several times the deaths of hostages, which Israel has not confirmed, notably those of the Bibas children and their mother.
Many bodies taken to Gaza
Some of the deceased hostages were already dead when they were taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023, killed during the Hamas attack. This is particularly the case for ten soldiers. At least 28 other hostages captured alive have died in Gaza. Three of them – Yotam Haïm (28 years old), Samer al-Talalqa (25 years old) and Alon Lulu Shamriz (26 years old) – were shot dead by mistake by the Israeli army on December 15, 2023.
The Israeli army accuses Hamas of having coldly executed six others at the end of August: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino, found dead by soldiers in a tunnel in Rafah (south of the Gaza Strip).
Nir Oz et Nova
Most of the presumed hostages still alive in Gaza were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz (20) or the Nova music festival (16). Nir Oz was already the kibbutz with the most hostages on October 7, 2024. It was the only community with more (more than 70) than deaths (more than 40), including foreign workers.
The Nova rave party, attended by more than 3,000 people, was held between Kibbutz Réïm and Beeri, on the edge of the Gaza Strip. In total, at least 370 people were massacred and 43 kidnapped, of whom only nine have returned alive to date.
Families separated by releases
On October 7, entire families were taken to Gaza. For the hostages released among them, the truce of November 2023 mixed relief and the heartbreak of leaving relatives behind.
This is particularly the case of the Franco-Israeli teenagers from Nir Oz, Eitan Yahalomi, whose father Ohad is still captive, and Erez and Sahar Kalderon, whose father Ofer remains held hostage in Gaza.
(afp)
