People hold portraits of children taken hostage by Hamas as protesters gathered outside the UNICEF office in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 20. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
According to the Israeli military, Hamas is holding about 239 hostages following its October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people.
Since the attack, only four have been released, one has been rescued and at least three have been found dead. Sources told CNN that after weeks of negotiations with several countries, a possible deal to release some hostages – in exchange for a temporary pause in fighting – could be on the horizon.
This is what we know about the hostages.
Who are the hostages? The hostages include children and elderly abducted from kibbutzim, young people persecuted while fleeing the Nova music festival, families and Israeli soldiers. According to the Israeli government, these include people from more than 25 countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in October that 33 of the hostages were children, although the total number of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) hostages has fluctuated since then.
Have any been published? On October 20, Hamas freed two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie. Days later, Hamas freed two more hostages: Yocheved Lifschitz, an 85-year-old grandmother, and her neighbor Nurit Cooper, 79, from Nir Oz. The IDF also said it had taken Pvt. Ori Megidish rescued in a “ground intervention” operation last month.
Did someone die? The IDF has found the bodies of at least three hostages since the start of its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was kidnapped at the Nova music festival, was pronounced dead on October 30. Last week, the IDF found two more bodies outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City: Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old grandmother, and Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier.
Who took them and where are they? Not all of the hostages are in the hands of Hamas. Earlier this month, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a rival Islamist group, released a video of two hostages – a 77-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy – and said it was ready to release both on humanitarian grounds. That hasn’t happened yet.
What was the reaction in Israel? Netanyahu’s government faced an angry backlash from the Israeli public and the families of the hostages, who wanted to do more to secure their release.
Last week, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Jerusalem toward Netanyahu’s residence. Similar demonstrations took place in Tel Aviv.
How has Israel resolved previous hostage situations? Israel was previously prepared to pay a high price to secure the release of the hostages.
Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was captured by Hamas in 2006 and held for five years. To free him, Israel exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis.