170 days in captivity

170 days in captivity. We must bring them home!

170 days have passed since Israel was shocked by the events of Black Saturday. The attack by well-armed and well-organized terrorist detachments on the civilian population: on children, women and the elderly in their homes, on people at bus stops, on dancing youth at the Re’im festival led to the greatest losses among the Jewish population since the Holocaust. October 7 became the most tragic date in Israeli history in the 21st century.

At the moment, 130 people are still being held hostage by terrorists. 170 days in captivity by the most bloodthirsty enemy possible.

For 170 days, the families of the Israelis hijacked in Gaza have been in a state of shock from powerlessness and the inability to somehow change the situation.

All this while, thousands of people in different towns and cities in Israel have continued to demonstrate, demanding that the government take all necessary measures to rescue the abductees.

Neither the defeat of Hamas’ main forces in Gaza nor the targeted assassinations of the leaders of terrorist groups overseas can bring their loved ones back. The fate of most of the captives remains unknown.

According to the latest figures, 97 hostages are believed to still be alive and in captivity in the Gaza Strip, but the country has not given the full basis for its estimates.

The number of hostages who have died in captivity and the ages, genders and nationalities of those remaining in Gaza are unclear. 

Hostages reported dead: At least 44

It is unclear how many of the remaining hostages are still alive.

Israel said it has recovered 11 bodies of hostages from Gaza, including several whose deaths it blames on Hamas and some who have been killed in its own operations.

• Nineteen-year-old Cpl. Noa Marciano and Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old who was taken from Kibbutz Beeri, were “murdered in captivity,” Israel has said. After Hamas said Marciano was killed by an Israeli strike, the Israel Defense Forces said intelligence and a “preliminary pathological report” indicated that Hamas killed Marciano after an Israeli strike wounded her. The Post could not independently verify the claim, and Israel did not provide the evidence on which it based its assessment. Hamas militants have said some hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes, but they have not produced evidence that corroborates their claims.
• In December, the IDF said it recovered the bodies of six hostages and returned them to Israel: Ofir Tzarfati, Eden Zakaria, Ziv Dado, Ron Sherman, Nik Beizer and Elia Toledano. Zakaria, 27, was taken hostage during the Hamas music festival attack; Dado, 36, was a logistics supervisor in the IDF’s Golani Brigade; while Beizer was a driver and Sherman a noncommissioned officer, both with Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, according to the IDF.
• Israel has also said that its soldiers mistakenly shot dead three hostages — Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and Samer Al-Talalka of Kibbutz Nir Am — during fighting in Gaza.

Israel said there are 33 additional hostages it believes were killed whose bodies have not been recovered, including one who was killed in a rescue attempt. That number includes one Tanzanian worker. It said it has been updating its list of hostages killed based on confirmation from “intelligence and other measures.” Its list appeared also to include some whose bodies were taken into Gaza after they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

Number of hostages remaining in Gaza: An estimated 97

According to the Israeli government, 253 people were thought to have been abducted on Oct. 7. The latest figures from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office says that of the 130 hostages taken on Oct. 7 who are still held in Gaza, 33 are now confirmed dead, bringing the estimated number of living hostages to 97. Israel includes hostages who were killed, with their bodies still held by Hamas, in its count.

The majority of the remaining hostages are Israelis or dual nationals, and male. Some Americans are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza. The only children on Israel’s list of remaining hostages are Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old when he was abducted, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel. Israel has said it is assessing Hamas’s claims that the Bibas children and their mother, Shiri, were killed.

Ten of the remaining hostages are foreign nationals, according to Israel. Israel previously described the breakdown as eight Thai citizens, one Nepali citizen and one French-Mexican citizen.

Bring them home

The lives and freedom of innocent people are the most precious thing! While innocent people are in captivity, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by other tasks! Let us remember them! Let us not be sidetracked! Let us do everything we can to bring them back home! May God help us on this journey!

NOVA, Dan Farr’s chilling film, Amit Soussana: I felt completely helpless and scared., Hamas hostages: Stories of the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel, Here are hostages released by Hamas and those remaining in Gaza, Hamas releases video of captive saying others are DEAD