Several dozen hostages believed to be alive are still being held in Gaza. In exchange for Palestinian prisoners, two phases of release could take place to allow them to regain their freedom.
The truce agreement reached Wednesday between Israel and Hamas provides for the release of hostages presumed alive, captive in Gaza.The Qatari Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, and the American President Joe Biden detailed this agreement with, first of all, the release of 33 live hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a first phase. A potential second phase could take place, to allow the 27 other hostages to be released, according to the American president.
In total, 60 hostages are still alive. The majority of suspected hostages still alive in Gaza were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz or the Nova music festival. As a reminder, at least 370 people were massacred during the Nova rave party, while 3,000 participants had gathered to party.
2 children among the 60 hostages presumed alive
On October 7, 2023, 251 people were taken from southern Israel to Gaza by Hamas. 117 of them were released during the lull in the conflict alone. Now, 94 people remain in captivity, but 34 of them have been declared dead by the Israeli army.
As AFP reported, among the 60 people presumed alive, “53 are Israeli, including at least 22 dual nationals, six are Thai and one Nepalese. Among them, 48 are men and 10 women, including five soldiers “, as well as two children, brothers Kfir and Ariel, kidnapped at eight months and four years old.
Rare evidence provided by Hamas and Islamic Jihad
Since this famous truce, in November 2023, seven additional hostages have found freedom, thanks to rescue operations by the Israeli army. In reality, there is no tangible evidence to ensure with certainty that the 60 hostages presumed alive are still alive at the start of 2025.
Recently, Hamas and Islamic Jihad published videos showing some of the hostages, Matan Zangauker (25 years old), Edan Alexander (20 years old), Sacha Trupanov (29 years old) and Liri Albag (19 years old), alive. They are part of the very rare evidence. The two organizations also announced several deaths of hostages, without this information being able to be confirmed and verified with accuracy by Israel.
As a reminder, some hostages had already died when they arrived in Gaza in October 2023. “At least 30 hostages captured alive died in Gaza,” specifies AFP. Three were killed by mistake by the Israeli army, the same army which accuses Hamas of having executed six at the end of August 2024, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino, found dead by soldiers in a Rafah tunnel.