The fate of the Hamas hostages Israel increases bombing in the south of the Gaza Strip – concern for civilians grows

The deal between Israel and Gaza is over for the time being: rockets flew into Israeli territory on Friday morning and heavy fighting broke out in the north of the Gaza Strip. For the past seven days, the guns had fallen silent in the Middle East – and Hamas had released 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

More than a hundred people are still missing, according to Israeli figures the number is 137. These are mainly Israelis, but also foreign citizens such as Thais and Nepalese. They were in Israel as guest workers when Hamas invaded the country on October 7, killing about 1,400 people and kidnapping about 240.

Much about their whereabouts is uncertain: where the hostages are, for example. How they are doing. How many of them are still alive. Israeli forces have so far recovered the bodies of at least two hostages in Gaza. In a television interview on Thursday, a Hamas spokesman, when asked how many hostages were still alive, said: “I don’t know.” When the shocked reporter asked what that meant, he simply replied, “The number isn’t that important.”

The clock is ticking for the remaining hostages

It’s clear that time is working against the hostages. Those who returned reported being given little to eat, and on some days none at all. Some of them had lost significant weight – including the children among them. Most of the kidnapped minors have been released in recent days; Hamas had mainly extradited minors, mothers with children and the elderly. But a 10-month-old baby and his four-year-old brother are still missing. They were kidnapped together with their mother.

Hamas claimed on Wednesday that they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but provided no evidence. The terrorist organization dragged the father, Yarden Bibas, who was also kidnapped, in front of the camera. The visibly grieving man accused the Israeli government of being responsible for the death of his family. A similar claim was found to be untrue in another kidnapping case. You can read more about it here.

The Israeli military had previously announced that, according to their information, Hamas had handed over the mother and her children to another terrorist organization: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The non-religious PFLP has a Marxist-Leninist orientation.

In addition to the family of four, the “Bring Them Home Now” page lists 112 other Israelis who are still missing. Among them is 26-year-old Noa Argamani, who attended the music festival in the Negev Desert that was one of Hamas’ main targets. A video shows her being separated from her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who is also still missing, and being kidnapped on a moped by men in civilian clothes. “Don’t kill me,” she screams. Leading more men Or away, his hands tied behind his back.

She survived the kidnapping on October 7 and photos showed her being taken hostage a few days later. But it is unclear what happened next to her and 30-year-old Or. However, it can be assumed that both of them are not together. According to reports from returnees, Hamas does not keep men and women together.

The couple lived in Tel Aviv before the kidnapping and planned to live together. The two managed to hide from the terrorists for several hours at the music festival. As “The Times of Israel” reports, Or spoke briefly with Argamani’s father on the phone. “Everything’s fine, I’ll call back in ten minutes.” Then there was radio silence.

18-year-old Liri Albag is also still missing. She was a soldier stationed at the Nahal Oz base, which was attacked by Hamas. She had only arrived there three days earlier. In the early morning of October 7, she informed her mother that she was hiding in a missile shelter. Shira Albag later identified her daughter in a kidnapping video, The Times of Israel reported.

“The question is whether they want that.”

There are increasing reports that even Hamas does not know exactly where many of the hostages are. For example, it is suspected that the terrorist organization held hostages captive in its tunnels, which Israel targeted before the ceasefire. Now Hamas would have difficulty finding the hostages.

Some hostages are also in the hands of other terrorist groups, such as Islamic Jihad. The group claimed on Wednesday that it had 30 hostages in its control, and that another 20 could belong to smaller groups, the US news agency Reuters reported. However, some of them may have already been released, as Islamic Jihad apparently cooperated with Hamas in returning the hostages.

In Israel there is a suspicion that there is a calculation behind this chaos. “It is convenient for them to say that they are not holding all the hostages to buy time,” the Israeli source told Reuters. Asked whether Hamas would be able to locate all the other hostages, she replied: “The question is whether they want to.”

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