Of the unique 251 hostages taken on October 7, 116 have been launched (File)
Greater than 10 months after Hamas operatives attacked Israel and took 251 individuals hostage, 71 individuals believed to be alive are nonetheless being held in Gaza, in accordance with an AFP database.
An additional 34 the Israeli army says are useless additionally stay within the Palestinian territory.
The hostages are key bargaining chips for Hamas, the Palestinian group which guidelines the Gaza Strip, because it negotiates a truce with Israel.
After the dying of hostage Avraham Munder, 79, in captivity within the Gaza Strip was introduced by his kibbutz and the Israeli military repatriated his physique and 5 different our bodies, AFP takes inventory of the state of affairs.
57 males, 12 ladies, two youngsters
Of the unique 251 hostages taken on October 7, 116, primarily ladies and youngsters, have been launched, principally throughout a week-long truce in November after they have been exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Whereas 71 are nonetheless held hostage and believed to be alive, the Israeli military says 34 others are confirmed to be useless.
The army has additionally repatriated the our bodies of 30 hostages who died both in Gaza or have been killed on October 7 and whose our bodies have been taken to the territory.
Of the 71 who should be alive, 64 are Israelis (a few of whom have multiple nationality), six are Thai nationals and one is a Nepalese nationwide.
They comprise 57 males, 12 ladies, and two youngsters. Eleven are army personnel.
Dying after dying
Because the finish of the truce on December 1, 2023, solely six hostages have been freed alive, all throughout operations by the Israeli military.
There may be uncertainty as to the fates of the 71 hostages who will not be confirmed useless.
The armed wing of Hamas mentioned on August 12 that its fighters had shot and killed an Israeli hostage and wounded two others, each ladies, “in two separate incidents” in Gaza.
Earlier than that Hamas had introduced on a number of events the dying of hostages which haven’t been confirmed by Israel.
They embody the youngest hostage Kfir, who was eight and a half months previous when he was kidnapped from Nir Ounceskibbutz. He was taken alongside his mom Shiri Bibas, 32, and his then four-year-old brother Ariel.
The Israeli military mentioned on August 20 it had retrieved the our bodies of six hostages from Gaza’s southern space of Khan Yunis, together with Munder. The others, all beforehand introduced as useless, have been Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Chaim Perry.
Our bodies taken to Gaza
Greater than half of the useless hostages, 35 out of 64, have been already useless after they have been taken by Hamas operatives to Gaza on October 7. They embody 10 Israeli troopers.
The 29 different hostages died within the territory. Three of them have been killed by mistake by the Israeli military on December 15, 2023.
Competition, kibbutz survivors
A lot of the surviving hostages in Gaza have been taken through the Hamas assault on the Nova music pageant and the Nir Ounceskibbutz.
No less than 22 individuals kidnapped from the pageant are regarded as alive and nonetheless being held in Gaza.
Solely 9 of the 43 hostages taken from Nova have been launched whereas 12 have died.
At Nir Ounceskibbutz, of the at the least 74 hostages who have been taken on October 7, greater than half (38) have been launched alive whereas 20 are nonetheless in Gaza and believed to be alive. The remaining 16 are useless.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)