In the clutches of the terrorists: this is what we know about the Hamas hostages

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More than six weeks after Hamas’s attack on Israel, fifty of the hostages kidnapped by the radical Islamic Palestinian organization in the Gaza Strip will be released from Thursday. According to the agreement between the Israeli government and Hamas, this mainly concerns women and children. An overview of what is known about the approximately 240 people abducted to the Gaza Strip according to Israeli information:

Israeli authorities have not released the names of hostages. The AFP news agency was able to identify 210 of the abductees through interviews with relatives and reporting in Israel. However, it is uncertain how many of the hostages are still alive. Hamas claims several abductees have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. So far, the Israeli army has recovered the bodies of two hostages.

Hamas released four of the hostages before the current deal with Israel. The Israeli army also freed a female soldier during the invasion of the Gaza Strip.

It is said that the woman gave birth to a child in captivity

At least 35 children and teenagers are among the 210 hostages identified by AFP. One of them, American Natalie Raanan, was released with her mother on October 20, shortly before her 18th birthday. 17 hostages are ten years old or younger.

Ten-month-old Kfir Bibas was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Os, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and his parents. A kidnapped woman in captivity is also said to have given birth to a child, as Sara Netanyahu (65), the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (74), said.

The abducted children include at least four with German-Israeli citizenship: Two German-Israeli sisters, four-year-old Raz and two-year-old Aviv, were also abducted along with their mother from Nir Os, where they were visiting their relatives. grandmother. In Kibbutz Beeri, Hamas fighters took eight-year-old German-Israeli boy Naveh Shoham and his three-year-old sister Yahel Gani Shoham hostage, along with other members of their family.

At least nine hostages are 80 years or older

Three children and young people – the two twelve-year-olds Eitan Jahalomi and Erez Kalderon and the 16-year-old Sahar Kalderon – have Israeli and French passports. The three siblings Tal, Gal and Agam Goldstein, aged nine to 17, are American citizens, according to the American news portal Daily Beast.

At least nine hostages are 80 years or older. The five oldest are 85, including Jaffa Adar. There is a video on the internet where you can see the grandmother being kidnapped on some kind of golf cart. 85-year-old Jocheved Lifshitz was released on October 23.

Hamas also took at least ten Israeli soldiers hostage. One of them, Noa Marciano, died in captivity.

According to official information, in addition to Israelis, the hostages included members from 26 countries, including Thais, Argentinians and Russians. Many of them have dual nationality.

There are only a few signs of life from those kidnapped: Hamas and its allied Islamic Jihad have so far published three videos showing what they say show living hostages. (AFP/jmh)

Source: Blick