Mostly men, including fathers of released children, soldiers and around twenty women: what we know about the hostages still trapped in the Gaza Strip as fighting resumed between Hamas and Israel on Friday, according to a report carried by AFP compiled database.
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Of the approximately 240 hostages taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7, the day of the Hamas attack, 105 were released during a seven-day ceasefire, including 80 under the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement. Five people were released earlier released.
Specifically, 33 minors, 49 adult women and 28 adult men, mostly Thai agricultural workers outside the ceasefire agreement, were released.
While Israeli raids have resumed on Palestinian territory, 137 hostages are still being held, according to the Israeli government, which did not reveal names. Among them are 126 Israelis or dual nationals, eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one Franco-Mexican (Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, whose identity was confirmed by his family).
The following data analyzes the 110 suspected hostages still living in Gaza that AFP was able to identify as of December 1, largely thanks to its network of journalists who are in regular contact with the hostages’ families and the Israeli press.
At least 15 soldiers, including five women
However, it is not certain whether everyone is still alive. Hamas has repeatedly announced the deaths of hostages, although these cannot be independently verified. This is especially true for the youngest of them, the infant Kfir (ten months old), his mother Shiri Bibas (32 years old) and his big brother Ariel (four years old), whose army has not confirmed the death.
So far, the Israeli army has confirmed the deaths of two hostages.
Additionally, because evidence of life is rare, it is still a regular occurrence that victims originally thought to be hostages are ultimately identified as having been killed in the October 7 attack.
Apart from Kfir and Ariel, there are no other minor hostages left in the Gaza Strip. The last, Bedouin Aïsha al-Zayadna (17 years old), was released on Thursday, the last day of the ceasefire. The Israel-Hamas agreement gave priority to their release.
On the other hand, not all women, the second most important population group, were released.
At least 17 adult women are still being held. Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Haggai, both 70 years old, are the two oldest women still considered hostages.
Five women aged 18 or 19 are soldiers and therefore not affected by the hostage release agreement. There are also at least ten male soldiers between the ages of 18 and 22. Most of them did their military service and were not professional soldiers.
Many hostages from the rave party
Including soldiers, at least 91 adult men are still considered hostages.
Among them are many fathers whose children and wives were released during the ceasefire, such as David Cunio, Dror Or, Tal Shoham, Ilan Weiss, Yair Yakoov, Youssef al-Zayadna and Ohad Yahalomi and Ofer Kalderon, the fathers of Franco-Israeli teenagers Eitan, Erez and Sahar.
At least seven septuagenarians and four octogenarians are still considered prisoners, including husbands of freed women: Abraham (78 years old), husband of Ruth Munder, Yoram (80), husband of Tamar Metzger, as well as Oded (83 years old) and Amiram ( ( 85 years old), the husbands of Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Kuper, were released in October.
Of the hostages still held, at least 33 were kidnapped from the Tribe of Nova techno music festival, which was attended by more than 3,000 people. Only five ravers were released during the ceasefire, including French-Israeli Mia Shem.
There are still hostages in around ten kibbutz. Most notably Nir Oz, which still lists at least 28 prisoners (38 have been released). Beeri still regrets at least eleven hostages, Kfar Aza (six) and Nir Yitzhak (four).
In addition to the hostages believed to be alive, several bodies are also being held by Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip, including those of three Israeli soldiers killed on October 7.
In addition to the hostages, the authorities consider seven people to be missing. So these are either hostages or people who were found dead and whose bodies could not be identified.