Who are the hostages released by Hamas?
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas handed over the remains of four more Israeli hostages early Thursday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
They are the last four to be released during the first phase of the truce, which is set to end Saturday. Israel and Hamas have yet to negotiate the next phase, and dozens of hostages are still held in Gaza.
Hamas transferred the four bodies to the Red Cross early Thursday and they were brought back to Israel for forensic testing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed their identities and said that three of the four hostages were killed in captivity, without elaborating. The fourth was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and Hamas militants kidnapped the body, Netanyahu's office said.
Under the first phase of the truce, 25 Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others were handed over in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Five Thai citizens abducted while working in Israel on the day of the attack were freed last month in a separate deal.
Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages during their Oct. 7, 2023, attack that launched the war in Gaza. Fifty-nine hostages remain in Gaza, roughly half of whom are believed to be dead. The others were released in previous agreements, rescued, or their bodies were recovered.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but says more than half were women or children.
Here’s a look at the hostages released so far:
Ohad Yahalomi was shot in the leg as he and his family were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His wife and two daughters, one 10 and the other almost 2, escaped from a moped attempting to take them into Gaza and got away after running through fields for hours. Ohad and his oldest son, Eitan, then 12, were taken into Gaza but held separately. Eitan was released as part of a ceasefire in November 2023.
Yahalomi, who also had French citizenship, was a dedicated runner and swimmer and loved traveling across Israel, according to the hostage forum. Netanyahu's office said Yahalomi was killed in captivity.
Elgarat was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz and was wounded in his hand, according to his brother, who spoke with him that morning.
His brother, Danny Elgarat, told Israeli media in July 2024 that they had received information from the Israeli military that Itzhak had likely been killed at some point in early 2024, though there was no official confirmation of his death. Netanyahu’s office said Elgarat was killed in captivity.
Hostages who were returned in the 2023 ceasefire said they had seen Itzhak in captivity in the early months of the war, his brother told Israeli media.
Elgarat also had Danish citizenship. He loved to travel and was a passionate supporter of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team.
Mantzur was taken from Kibbutz Kissufim, while his wife of 60 years, Mazal, escaped. He was one of the founders of the kibbutz and had managed the chicken coops for many years. He had five children and 12 grandchildren. He loved working with his hands and studied jewelry-making and carpentry. Born in Iraq, he survived riots against Jews as a child and moved with his family to Israel as a young teenager, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Mantzur was the oldest person taken hostage. Earlier this month, the Israeli military confirmed that Mantzur was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza.
Idan was taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. His eldest daughter, Maayan, was killed as militants shot through the door of their saferoom. Hamas militants broadcast themselves on Facebook live holding the Idan family hostage in their home, as his two younger children pleaded with the militants to let them go. Only Tsachi was taken to Gaza.
Idan worked in tech and loved playing soccer, volleyball and tennis, according to the hostages forum. Netanyahu’s office said Idan was killed in captivity.
Wenkert, a restaurant manager known for his love of dancing and sports, was taken captive from the Nova music festival in southern Israel.
Since his abduction, his family was concerned that Wenkert — from the southern Israeli town of Gedera — wasn't getting the medication necessary to treat his colitis, an inflammation of the large intestine.
They had not received a sign of life from him since November 2023, when Hamas published footage of Wenkert tied in the back of a pickup truck in his underwear.
Shem Tov, from the Israeli city of Herzliya, was abducted from the Nova music festival with his friends Maya and Itay Regev, former captives who were released in November 2023. He's a passionate musician and DJ, according to the hostage forum.
On the day of the Hamas attack on Israel, Shem Tov crammed into a car full of people trying to flee, but the militants shot at them. His family later saw footage of Shem Tov held by militants and bound in the back of a truck.
Tal Shoham, from the northern Israeli village of Ma’ale Tzviya, was visiting his wife’s family on Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants burned the house where they were hiding, forcing them outside.
Shoham, who also has Austrian citizenship, was taken along with his wife, Adi Shoham; his daughter, Yahel, 3; son, Naveh, 8; mother-in-law, Shoshan Haran; his wife’s aunt, Sharon Avigdori; and her daughter, Noam, 12. Three members of their extended family were killed during the attack.
The six extended family members were freed in November 2023. His wife, Adi, is a psychologist specializing in trauma.
The hostage forum said Shoham volunteered with Israel’s emergency paramedic service and used to be a manager at Kibbutz Be’eri’s printing house.
Cohen was at the Nova musical festival when he was taken hostage while hiding in a bomb shelter. His fiancé, Ziv Abud, avoided capture by hiding under a pile of bodies.
Cohen is from Tzur Hadassah, a town north of Jerusalem. He works in marketing and real estate.
Hostages who have been released in the past weeks said they were held with Cohen, and he had lost more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) and had a bullet in his leg that did not receive medical attention. He was held in tunnels, chained for most of the time, and was unaware Abud had survived, she said earlier this month.
Mengistu had been held in Gaza since entering on his own in 2014. Mengistu is from Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel. His family had no idea if he was alive for nine years, until Hamas released a video of him in January 2023.
Mengistu, a member of Israel's Ethiopian minority, entered the territory by crossing a barbed wire fence into Gaza. After he crossed into the Gaza Strip, he was abducted by Hamas. The family told Israeli media he has struggled with mental health issues and he had gone missing within Israel previously.
Al-Sayed crossed on his own into Gaza in 2015 and had been held since. He grew up in Al-Sayed, a small Bedouin Arab village near the city of Hura in the Negev Desert. In 2022, Hamas published a video showing him lying in bed with an oxygen mask, though he was conscious.
His father told Human Rights Watch that Al-Sayed had run away from home on many occasions. His family told Israeli media he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“No other hostages should face a decade in captivity,” his family said in a statement shortly before Al-Sayed’s release.
The bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas were returned Thursday and the remains of their mother, Shiri Bibas, were returned Friday. Hamas said the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike, while Israel says forensic testing showed the boys were killed in captivity in November 2023. Shiri’s husband, Yarden, was also abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, and was released earlier this month.
A video of the family’s abduction showed a terrified Shiri Bibas swaddling her two redheaded sons in a blanket as armed militants surrounded her. The footage ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack.
Ariel was 4 years old at the time and Kfir was 9 months old, making him the youngest captive taken by Hamas. Ariel Bibas loved Batman and family photos showed the four Bibases dressed as the character.
Kfir, the infant with red hair and a toothless smile, became a symbol across Israel for the feelings of helplessness and anger over the hostages’ captivity.
The body of Oded Lifshitz, one of the oldest hostages held by the militants, was returned Thursday. He was taken captive from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was freed before the first ceasefire agreement.
His family said in a statement they had “hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome.”
“Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7,” they said. "Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”
Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz are among the founders of Nir Oz. Oded, a journalist, campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews. In retirement, he drove to the Erez border crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip once a week to ferry Palestinians to medical appointments in Israel as part of a group called On the Way to Recovery.
Oded took pride in his work helping the traditionally nomadic Bedouin people of the Negev Desert, his daughter told The Associated Press, describing a case that went to Israel’s High Court and resulted in the return of some of their land.
An Israeli-American, Chen was working outside on his pet project, bus conversions, when militants stormed his kibbutz. He instructed his wife, Avital, to hide in the safe room with their two daughters. Chen, one of the first people to raise alarm of the infiltration on the kibbutz, was taken captive.
Avital was seven months pregnant at the time of the attack; she gave birth to a third daughter, Shachar Mazal, in December 2023.
Chen is an avid tennis player who co-founded an arts center for young people in southern Israel, according to the hostage forum.
Horn is an Israel-Argentinian who was taken captive along with his brother, Eitan Horn, who was staying with him at the time. Eitan Horn remains in captivity and is not included in the ceasefire’s first phase.
Iair Horn managed the kibbutz pub and is a fan of the local soccer team in Beersheba, according to the hostage forum.
Sasha Trufanov, an Israeli-Russian, was taken hostage along with three members of his family: grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) and girlfriend Sapir Cohen. His father, Vitaly Trufanov, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023. The rest of his family was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Sasha Troufanov works as an engineer for Amazon, according to the hostage forum. His family immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union 25 years ago.
He was held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, which has released multiple videos of him in captivity, including one just hours before his release.
Eli Sharabi was taken captive by the militants from Kibbutz Beeri, a communal farm that was one of the hardest hit in the Hamas attack. His British-born wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were killed by militants while hiding in their safe room. His brother, Yossi Sharabi, who lived next door, was killed in captivity. Hamas militants are holding his body, according to the hostage forum.
Eli Sharabi’s home bore marks from the attack months later. AP journalists saw bullet holes in the walls and the shattered oven and TV screens. Nearby homes were torched by militants and their roofs blasted off during fighting on Oct. 7.
Ohad Ben Ami, a father to three, was taken captive with his wife, Raz, from Kibbutz Beeri, where he was an accountant. Raz Ben Ami was released during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
The hostage forum described Ohad Ben Ami as a “passionate nature enthusiast” and the “cornerstone of his family.”
Or Levy was pulled out of a bomb shelter by militants near the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His wife, Einav Levy, was killed during the attack. Their son, Almog, now 3, has been in the care of relatives since the assault.
Levy was taken captive alongside American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin as well as two other hostages — Eliya Cohen and Alon Ohel. Goldberg-Polin, whose parents staged a high-profile campaign for his release, was killed in Hamas captivity.
Or Levy is from the city of Rishon Lezion, where he worked as a computer programmer for a startup.
Keith Siegel, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was abducted with his wife, Aviva Siegel, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a farming community heavily damaged by the attack. She was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire deal, and has campaigned across the world for the release of her husband and other hostages.
Aviva Siegel said that she was held hostage with her husband during her 51 days in captivity. She said she took comfort from having her husband by her side as they were moved from tunnel to tunnel, the two given almost no food or water. Her parting words to him were, “Be strong for me.”
Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage, was taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His teenage children, Sahar and Erez, were also abducted and freed during the weeklong ceasefire in 2023.
Arbel Yehoud was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from Kibbutz Nir Oz. A third-generation resident of the kibbutz, she loves science and space, and her friends held a public star gazing to mark her birthday in captivity.
Her brother, Dolev Yehoud, was killed on Oct. 7.
In videos of Agam Berger’s abduction, her face is covered in blood, though it’s unclear if it is from her own wound or those of other soldiers.
Berger is a violin player from a suburb of Tel Aviv who enlisted in the army just two months before the attack. Berger was released after other female soldiers taken from the Nahal Oz military base.
Gadi Moses was one of the oldest hostages who remained in captivity in Gaza.
He was taken from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities hardest-hit in the Hamas-led attack. The hostage forum described Moses as an expert agronomist who lectured on agriculture and helped maintain the kibbutz’s vegetable garden.
Moses’ partner, Efrat, was killed during the attack.
In the Oct. 7 attack, militants overran the compound where agricultural workers lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Out of the 16 Thai workers living there, 11 were killed and five, including Watchara Sriaoun, were abducted.
They were among at least 31 Thai workers taken in the assault. In the November 2023 ceasefire, 23 were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.
Sathian Suwannakham was also taken from Nir Oz. The kibbutz has continued to advocate for the release of the Thai workers by posting regularly about them on social media, in addition to the Israeli hostages.
Surasak Rumnao was abducted from the town of Yesha, located near the southern Gaza Strip.
His mother, Khammee Lamnao, said the Thai Embassy in Israel called her to let her know her son would be released.
Pongsak Thaenna was also taken from the town of Yesha. Thais make up the largest group of foreigners held in Gaza.
In the early days after the Oct. 7 attack, then-Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in phone conversations to assist the Thai hostages.
Bannawat Saethao was also abducted from the town of Yesha.
Liri Albag, who was among those abducted from the Nahal Oz military base, was featured in a video Hamas released in early January, filmed under duress. Her family said the video was “difficult to watch” because of Albag’s clear emotional distress. They were particularly active in the protest movement pushing for a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home.
Karina Ariev was also taken from Nahal Oz.
Just before she was abducted, she she sent a message to her family, saying: “If I don’t live, take care of mom and dad all their lives. Don’t give up, live,” according to Israeli media. Her family said she loves to cook, sing, dance and write poetry.
Also taken from Nahal Oz, Daniella Gilboa was originally named Danielle. Her parents changed it after she was taken captive, in line with a Jewish tradition that is believed to bring God’s protection.
Gilboa, from Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, played piano and studied music in high school. She dreams of being a singer, according to Israeli media.
The footage from Naama Levy’s abduction, in which she is wearing gray sweatpants covered in blood, was shown around the world.
Levy, among those taken from Nahal Oz, is a triathlete. When she was younger, she participated in the “Hands of Peace” delegation, which brings together Americans, Israelis and Palestinians to work on coexistence.
Romi Gonen was taken from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She spoke to her family for nearly five hours as militants marauded through the festival grounds. She told them that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes.
Her father, Eitan Goren, said she survived in part by learning Arabic, as it was the only way to communicate with her captors. “I just enjoy being with her even in silence, touching, hugging, watching her,” he said, a week after her release. “I missed it so much.”
Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen abducted from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She lived in a small apartment in a neighborhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke through the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.
The day after her release, Emily’s mother, Mandy, said her daughter was “in high spirits and on the road to recovery.”
Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and a neighbor to Damari in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Steinbrecher holds both Israeli and Romanian citizenship.
Steinbrecher was featured in a video released by Hamas in January 2024, along with two female Israeli soldiers. Her brother said the video gave them hope that she was alive but sparked concern because she looked tired, weak and gaunt.
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