Red Cross vehicles carrying the bodies of three people believed to be deceased hostages handed over by Hamas make their way toward the border crossing with Israel, to be transferred to Israeli authorities, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

A dead person killed during an Israeli army strike is taken into the hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A man walks past graffiti of Shiri and Yarden Bibas and their sons, Ariel, left, and Kfir, right, who were taken captive by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel
| Photo Credit: AP

Israel braced on Thursday (February 20, 2025) for the return of the bodies of infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.

Palestinian militant groups said the bodies of the two boys and their mother Shiri Bibas, along with that of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, would be handed over on Thursday under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief video statement that Thursday would be “a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief.”

Kfir Bibas was nine months old when the Bibas family, including their father Yarden, was abducted at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of a string of communities near Gaza that was overrun by Hamas-led attackers from Gaza on October 7.

Killed in Israeli air strike

Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but the deaths were never confirmed by Israeli authorities and even at the last minute, some refused to accept they were dead.

“Shiri and the kids became a symbol,” said Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, which lost around a quarter of its inhabitants, either killed or kidnapped, during the October 7 assault. “I still hope that they will be alive.”

Yarden Bibas was returned in an earlier exchange of hostages for prisoners this month. But the family said this week their “journey is not over” until they received final confirmation of what happened to the boys and their mother.

The handover will be the first return of dead bodies during the current agreement and Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until full DNA checks have been completed.

Despite accusations on both sides of ceasefire breaches, the fragile agreement that took effect on January 19 has held up since the first in a series of exchanges of hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from his far-right coalition allies for agreeing to the deal, which some in Israel feel rewards Hamas and leaves the militant group in place in Gaza.

But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for the ceasefire, and thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to demand the government stick to the deal until all the remaining hostages are returned.

Israel launched its war in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas-led attack that killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, with 251 kidnapped. The Israeli military campaign has killed some 48,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and left densely populated Gaza largely in ruins.

Living hostages

Thursday’s handover of bodies will be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first phase of an agreement intended to open the way towards ending the war in Gaza.

So far 19 Israeli hostages have been released, as well as five Thais who were returned in an unscheduled handover.

Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of around 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip to allow an end to the war, are expected to begin in the coming days.

Prospects for an agreement remain uncertain, however, with both sides far apart on issues including the future governance of Gaza, which Israel has said cannot be run by either Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

The issue has also been clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be resettled outside Gaza, a move critics say would amount to a war crime and ethnic cleansing, and for the enclave to be developed as a waterfront property under U.S. control.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume its fight against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.

Hamas said Monday — and reiterated Tuesday — that it planned to delay the release of three more hostages after accusing Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough tents and other aid into Gaza.

US President Donald Trump has emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining hostages on Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether Netanyahu’s threat referred to the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, or just the three scheduled for release on Saturday.

Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli official said Netanyahu ordered the army to add more troops in and around the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday,” according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Israel had signalled Monday it planned to reinforce defences along the Gaza border. The all-scenario plan was announced during a four-hour meeting between Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet that focused on Hamas’ threat, which risks jeopardizing the three-week-old ceasefire.

So far, Hamas has released 21 hostages in a series of exchanges for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages aren’t freed by Saturday. Hamas brushed off his threat on Tuesday, doubling down on its claim that Israel has violated the ceasefire and warned that it would only continue releasing hostages if all parties adhered to the ceasefire.

Trump is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.

Palestinians and the international community have seethed over Trump’s recent comments that any Palestinians potentially expelled from Gaza would not have a right to return.

During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas committed to freeing 33 hostages captured in its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while Israel said it would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The sides have carried out five swaps since January 19.

The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.

But if Israel resumes the war, it will face a drastically different battlefield. After forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza in the early stages of the war, Israel allowed many of those displaced people to return to what is left of their homes, posing a new challenge to its ability to move ground troops through the territory. 

Washington:

US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that “all hell will break out” if Hamas did not release hostages before January 20, when he will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

“All hell will break out. If those hostages aren’t back, I don’t want to hurt your negotiation, if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

He was responding to a question on the status of negotiations with Hamas on the release of American hostages by them. His Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Charles Witkoff, who has just returned from the region, told reporters that they are on the verge of it.

“I believe we’ve been on the verge of it. I don’t want to discuss sort of what’s delayed it, no point to be negative in any way. But I think it’s the president, his stature, what he’s said he expects, the red lines he’s put out there, that’s driving this negotiation,” Witkoff said.

Noting that they are making a lot of progress, he said: “I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Doha. But I think that we’ve had some really great progress and I’m really hopeful that by the inauguration we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.” “I actually believe that we’re working in tandem in a really good way, but it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation. So hopefully it’ll all work out and we’ll save some lives,” Witkoff said.

Trump, in response to a question, warned Hamas to release all the hostages by January 20.

“It will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good frankly for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is. They should have given them back a long time ago — they should have never taken them. There should have never been the attack of October 7th. People forget that, but there was and many people are killed,” he said.

“They’re no longer hostages. I have people from Israel and others calling, begging me to get — we had also people there from the United States just so you know. They’re holding some so-called hostages from the US, but I’ve had mothers come to me and fathers crying, can I get the body of their son back? Can I get the body of their daughter back?” he said.

“That beautiful girl where they threw her in the car, pulled her by her ponytail and threw her in the car like she was a sack of potatoes. I said, what happened to her? Sir, she’s dead. Like a 19, 20-year-old, beautiful girl. The way they treated her,” he said as he applauded his special envoy for the progress being made so far.

“I tell this, I don’t want to hurt the negotiation. If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which is now going to be two weeks, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” Trump said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Saturday of an Israeli hostage held in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack of October 2023.

In the undated, three-and-half-minute video that AFP has not been able to verify, Matan Zangauker says in Hebrew that he has been in captivity for more than 420 days and calls for public pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of all captives held in Gaza.

Zangauker, who was 24 at the time, was taken from Nir Oz kibbutz along with his partner, Ilana Gritzewsky. She was released during a truce last year. 

His mother, Einav Zangauker, has been one of the most prominent figures in Israel calling for the government to negotiate a hostage release deal that would end the war.

Addressing herself to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said: “That Matan is still alive today does not mean he will survive the winter or the continuing military pressure. The only way to bring Matan back is with a deal.”

She added: “I demand the following from you, Netanyahu: give full mandate to the negotiating team to bring a comprehensive deal that will bring everyone back. A comprehensive deal that will bring everyone back, even if it means ending the war. No tricks, no excuses.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group for relatives of those abducted to Gaza, said the video was evidence that hostages remained alive and that “the critical need” to secure their release “becomes more urgent with each passing hour”.

“These hostages’ lives hang by a thread,” the group said.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of stalling truce negotiations and prolonging the war to appease his far-right coalition partners. 

There have been large and frequent protests in Israel since the early days of the war calling for the government to negotiate a hostage release deal with Hamas. 

On Saturday night there were again major protests in Tel Aviv, which Einav Zangauker attended, as well as other Israeli cities. 

Palestinian militants kidnapped 251 people during their surprise attack, of whom 96 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

On Saturday, Qatar said “momentum is coming back” for the talks, while a source close to the Hamas delegation told AFP that a new round of negotiations will “most likely” begin in the coming week.

With Cairo and Washington, Doha has been mediating negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal for more than a year without success.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held in the Gaza Strip were not released prior to his Jan. 20 inauguration.

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on social media.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

When Hamas militants staged the worst-ever attack on Israel, they took back into the Gaza Strip 251 hostages, some of them already dead. A year later, 64 people, including two children, are still in captivity and Israel believes they are alive.

For the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, the hostages are key bargaining chips to negotiate a truce with Israel and seek the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Here is what we know about the hostages still held in Gaza.

52 men, 10 women, two children

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants on October 7, 2023, 117 have been freed, most of them women, children and foreign workers.

Most were released during a week-long truce in late November in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Nearly a year later, Israel believes 64 hostages still held in Gaza are alive.

The army has confirmed 70 others are dead, 33 of whose bodies are still in Gaza.

The military has repatriated the bodies of 37 hostages who either died in Gaza or were killed on October 7 and taken to the territory.

Of the 64 thought to be alive, 57 are Israelis, though some of them have more than one nationality. Another six are Thai nationals and one is Nepalese.

Fifty-two are men and 10 are women. Eleven are military personnel.

Two are children.

The youngest hostage, Kfir, was just eight-and-a-half months old when he was kidnapped. The other is his brother Ariel, who was only four years old when he was taken to Gaza.

Hamas has said the two children are dead, but Israel has not confirmed this.

No proof of life

Since the truce ended on December 1, only seven other hostages have been freed alive, all during Israeli military operations.

With no proof of life, uncertainty remains over whether the 64 are still alive.

The armed wing of Hamas said on August 12 that its fighters had shot and killed an Israeli hostage and injured two others.

Hamas has announced on several occasions deaths of hostages that have not been confirmed by Israel, leaving families in agonising limbo.

Bodies taken to Gaza

On October 7, Hamas militants took several dead back into Gaza with them, including 10 Israeli soldiers’ bodies.

At least 28 other hostages have died in the territory since the start of the war.

Three were killed in error by the Israeli army on December 15, 2023. They were Yotam Haim, 28, Samer El-Talalqa and Alon Shamriz, 26.

The Israeli army accuses Hamas of executing six others in August: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobonov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino.

They were found dead by soldiers in a tunnel in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Festival, kibbutz survivors

Most of the hostages were taken during the attack on the Nir Oz kibbutz and on the Nova music festival.

At Nir Oz kibbutz, of the at least 76 hostages taken on October 7, 40 were released alive. Another 20 are still in Gaza and believed to be alive. The remaining 16 are dead.

Only 17 people abducted from the festival are thought to be alive and still being held in Gaza.

Only nine of at least 43 hostages taken from Nova have been released, while 17 others have died.

Whole families

On October 7, whole families were taken to Gaza. For them, the November 2023 truce brought relief but also the heartache of leaving loved ones behind.

French-Israeli children Eitan, Erez and Sahar were freed but their fathers Ohad Yahalomi and Ofer Kalderon are still being held.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

More than 10 months after Hamas operatives attacked Israel and took 251 people hostage, 71 people believed to be alive are still being held in Gaza, according to an AFP database.

A further 34 the Israeli military says are dead also remain in the Palestinian territory.

The hostages are key bargaining chips for Hamas, the Palestinian group which rules the Gaza Strip, as it negotiates a truce with Israel.

After the death of hostage Avraham Munder, 79, in captivity in the Gaza Strip was announced by his kibbutz and the Israeli army repatriated his body and five other bodies, AFP takes stock of the situation.

57 men, 12 women, two children

Of the original 251 hostages taken on October 7, 116, mainly women and children, have been released, mostly during a week-long truce in November when they were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

While 71 are still held hostage and believed to be alive, the Israeli army says 34 others are confirmed to be dead.

The military has also repatriated the bodies of 30 hostages who died either in Gaza or were killed on October 7 and whose bodies were taken to the territory.

Of the 71 who may still be alive, 64 are Israelis (some of whom have more than one nationality), six are Thai nationals and one is a Nepalese national.

They comprise 57 men, 12 women, and two children. Eleven are military personnel.

Death after death

Since the end of the truce on December 1, 2023, only six hostages have been freed alive, all during operations by the Israeli army.

There is uncertainty as to the fates of the 71 hostages who are not confirmed dead.

The armed wing of Hamas said on August 12 that its fighters had shot and killed an Israeli hostage and wounded two others, both women, “in two separate incidents” in Gaza.

Before that Hamas had announced on several occasions the death of hostages which have not been confirmed by Israel.

They include the youngest hostage Kfir, who was eight and a half months old when he was kidnapped from Nir Oz kibbutz. He was taken alongside his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and his then four-year-old brother Ariel.

The Israeli army said on August 20 it had retrieved the bodies of six hostages from Gaza’s southern area of Khan Yunis, including Munder. The others, all previously announced as dead, were Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Chaim Perry.

Bodies taken to Gaza 

More than half of the dead hostages, 35 out of 64, were already dead when they were taken by Hamas operatives to Gaza on October 7. They include 10 Israeli soldiers.

The 29 other hostages died in the territory. Three of them were killed by mistake by the Israeli army on December 15, 2023.

Festival, kibbutz survivors

Most of the surviving hostages in Gaza were taken during the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival and the Nir Oz kibbutz.

At least 22 people abducted from the festival are thought to be alive and still being held in Gaza.

Only nine of the 43 hostages taken from Nova have been released while 12 have died.

At Nir Oz kibbutz, of the at least 74 hostages who were 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 dead.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tel Aviv:

The sister of an Israeli hostage whose body was recovered from Gaza last week struck a solemn tone Sunday as she laid him to rest after thousands attended his funeral.

“I feared this ending but I wanted so much for it to end differently,” Avivit Yablonka told AFP at the funeral of her brother Chanan.

Chanan, 42, was murdered on October 7 in Hamas’s unprecedented attack, while trying to escape from the Nova music festival where at least 364 people were killed.

His body was taken to the Gaza Strip by militants but was retrieved on Friday by Israeli troops after spending 230 days in captivity.

In the space of a week, the Israeli army has announced the death of eight hostages who had been presumed to be alive — five Israelis, two Thais and a French-Mexican dual national.

The army also retrieved seven bodies — including Chanan’s — that had been held in Gaza since October 7.

Hopes have since faded among the families of other hostages whose whereabouts are unknown.

Militants took 252 hostages during the attack, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Israeli army says are dead.

Dozens of hostage relatives gathered outside the home of Chanan’s parents Sunday for a silent procession to Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery, accompanied by thousands waving Israeli flags.

The Yablonka family had urged people to join the march in solidarity with the hostages.

“We have to bring everyone back — this march is for him and for the release of all the hostages,” Avivit said.

Surrounded by crowds of people, Chanan’s family said goodbye.

– ‘Funeral to funeral’ –

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Before she learned of her brother’s death, Avivit, 48, attended the funeral of Ron Benjamin, who was found in the same tunnel complex in northern Gaza as her brother, according to the army.

“I’m scared. I go from funeral to funeral. I’m so scared, but I have hope, I’m not giving up,” she said at the time.

A father of two, Chanan had played for the Hapoel Tel-Aviv football club in his youth, and remained a fan.

His family had not heard from him since October 7, and was told he was in Gaza 90 days after his disappearance.

“We thought they were coming back alive, but they’re coming back in coffins,” Avivit said before laying her brother to rest.

Avivit said she wants “to believe that the government really wants to bring them all back and that there are difficulties in negotiating with such murderers”.

She said last week she had not received a phone call from any minister or lawmaker.

– Anger at government –

Her anger is shared by Jonathan Dekel-Chen, professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose son Sagi is being held hostage in Gaza.

“My anger is only growing,” he told AFP.

“We see that there is no progress for the return of the hostages… Israeli society is with us but the government is not doing enough to bring them home.”

Yet he remains hopeful of finding his son alive. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, leaving his pregnant wife and two daughters behind.

Sagi’s wife Avital has since given birth to a daughter Shahar, which means “dawn” in English.

Around 75 people from kibbutz Nir Oz were captured on October 7.

Dekel-Chen said his “daily” dream was to see his son reunited with his entire family, including children Gali, 3, and Bar, 7.

“They run to him and he, on his two legs, runs to his wife Avital and Shahar, the baby, and finally embraces him, and resumes a normal life,” he said, describing his recurring dream.

“This is my mission. I won’t stop until it happens.”

At the entrance to the university library, tears in his eyes, he stared at a portrait of his son displayed at the reception desk.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)