After over two years in captivity, the fate of the last Israeli hostages held in Gaza will finally be decided as part of a large prisoner swap deal that is part of the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The pact says that Hamas must liberate all of the hostages it still has, which Israeli officials think are 20 people who are still alive. In exchange, Israel must free over 2,000 Palestinian inmates and detainees.
The faces of the hostages have become permanent national symbols in Israel. You can often see them on street corners and during the weekly “Hostage Square” protests in Tel Aviv, where families have strongly pushed for their return.
The problem started with the terrible Hamas terror strike on October 7, 2023, when terrorists crossed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, this incident started the two-year conflict that has since forced 90% of Gaza’s 2 million population to leave and killed about 67,000 Palestinians.
Nova Festival and Kibbutz Survivors: Profiles of the Captives
The last set of hostages is made up of civilians, soldiers, and one foreign national. Most of them were taken from the scenes of the worst killings.
From the Nova Music Fest
Most of the other hostages were taken from the Nova music festival, which is close to Kibbutz Reim and where over 400 people were killed. People who are likely to be let go include:
Evyatar David, 24, was in a propaganda video in August that appalled the Israeli people because he looked sickly and said he was “digging his own grave.”
Alon Ohel, 24, was a musician who was caught while hiding in a bomb bunker.
Avinatan Or (32): He and his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, were kidnapped. The video of their capture went viral. In June 2024, Israeli troops saved Argamani.
Other Nova hostages include Eitan Mor (25), Bar Kupershtein (23), Guy Gilboa-Dalal (24), Maksym Harkin (37), Segev Kalfon (27), and Elkana Bohbot (36).
Taken from the Kibbutzim
Seven of the hostages came from communities near the border and were seized from their homes by force:
Gali and Ziv Berman (28): They are fraternal twins from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and it is said that they have been kept apart for the whole two years they have been imprisoned.
Ariel (28) and David Cunio (35): Brothers who were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. David’s wife and twin girls were freed in November 2023, but he is still a prisoner.
Also extracted from Nir Oz: Matan Zangauker, 25. Since then, his mother has become a well-known leader in the captive families’ cause.
Foreign Nationals and Soldiers
Israeli Soldiers: Matan Angrest, 22, and Nimrod Cohen, 21, are two Israeli soldiers who were taken prisoner during the first battle on October 7. They are thought to be alive.
Bipin Joshi, a 24-year-old Nepalese agriculture student who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Alumim, is the only foreigner who is thought to be alive among the four foreign people who were first reported missing. Three other foreign workers had been pronounced dead before.
The Path to Closure and Problems That Still Need to Be Fixed
Israeli officials have officially declared 26 hostages dead based on forensic and intelligence data, but they think 20 of them will come back alive. These people died during the raid, while they were being held captive, or as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Hamas has warned that it may take time to find all of the burial locations, therefore an international task force will need to help with this. The bodies of the dead hostages are also part of the arrangement. Israel thinks that only one woman hostage is still alive, and they are worried that she has already been slain.
The truce that started on Friday gives Israeli families a little glimmer of hope, ending their two-year ordeal. At the same time, for Palestinians, the liberation of thousands of their countrymen and women is a big political and humanitarian victory after a terrible time of war.