More than 10 months after Hamas militants invaded Israel and took 251 people hostage, 71 people are still believed to be alive as hostages in Gaza, according to an AFP database.
According to the Israeli military, 34 others were also dead in the Palestinian territories.
The hostages are a key bargaining chip for Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules the Gaza Strip, and is negotiating a ceasefire with Israel.
The death of Abraham Mundar, 79, a hostage in the Gaza Strip, was announced by his kibbutz and the Israeli army repatriated his and five other bodies, AFP reported.
57 men, 12 women, two children
Of the 251 hostages taken on October 7, 116 have been released, most of them women and children, who were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
While 71 people are still hostages and are believed to be alive, the Israeli military says 34 others are confirmed dead.
The army also repatriated the bodies of 30 hostages who were either killed in Gaza or were killed on October 7 and whose bodies were taken to the territory.
Of the 71 people still alive, 64 are Israelis (some of whom have more than one nationality), six are Thai citizens and one is a Nepalese citizen.
These include 57 men, 12 women and two children. Eleven of them are military personnel.
Death after death
Only six hostages have been freed alive since the ceasefire expires on 1 December 2023, all during Israeli military operations.
Uncertainty remains about the fate of the 71 hostages whose deaths have not been confirmed.
Hamas’ armed wing said on August 12 that its fighters had shot dead an Israeli hostage and wounded two others, both women, in “two separate incidents” in Gaza.
Hamas had previously announced the deaths of hostages on several occasions, which were not confirmed by Israel.
These include the youngest hostage, Kfir, who was eight-and-a-half months old when he was abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz. He was taken along with his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and his four-year-old brother Ariel.
The Israeli military said on August 20 that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Mundar, from Khan Younis, a town south of Gaza. The others, who had already been declared dead, were Yagaev Buchshtab, Alexander Dansig, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Poppel and Chaim Peri.
The bodies were taken to Gaza
More than half of the dead hostages, 35 out of 64, were dead when they were taken to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7. These include 10 Israeli soldiers.
The remaining 29 hostages died in the same area. Three of them were accidentally killed by the Israeli army on 15 December 2023.
Festival, Kibbutz survivors
Most of the surviving hostages in Gaza were taken hostage during the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival and the Nir Oz kibbutz.
At least 22 people kidnapped from the festival are believed to be alive and still being held hostage in Gaza.
Of the 43 hostages taken on Nova, only nine have been released, while 12 have died.
At the Nir Oz kibbutz, of at least 74 hostages taken on October 7, more than half (38) have been released alive, while 20 are still in Gaza and believed to be alive. The remaining 16 are believed to be dead.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
