JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian militant group Hamas was set on Monday to release dozens of hostages it has been holding in Gaza for the last two years, in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, under the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Twenty of the 48 hostages who remain in Gaza are believed to be alive. Here are some details about them:
NOVA HOSTAGES
Most of the living hostages being released were abducted from the site of the Nova Music festival near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel.
They include Evyatar David, 24, who was last seen in a Hamas video in August, looking skeletally thin and digging what he said in the video was his own grave; pianist Alon Ohel, 24, and Avinatan Or, 32. A video showing Or’s abduction with his girlfriend Noa Argamani pleading for her life and reaching desperately towards him as he was marched alongside her on foot circulated across the globe. Argamani was rescued in June.
HOSTAGES TAKEN FROM KIBBUTZIM
Seven of the hostages were taken from their homes on kibbutzim, small communities near the Gaza border. They include twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 28, and brothers Ariel Cunio, 28, and David Cunio, 35, who was abducted with his wife Sharon and toddler daughters. Sharon and the girls were released in a brief November 2023 truce.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS
Two of the hostages, Matan Angrest, 22, and Nimrod Cohen, 20, are Israeli conscript soldiers who were seized by Hamas militants in the battles of October 7.
FOREIGNERS
There are four foreigners among the 48 hostages. Three of them have been pronounced dead in absentia: a Tanzanian student and two Thai workers. The fate of Nepalese student Bipin Joshi is still unknown.
DECEASED
Twenty-six hostages were formally declared dead by Israeli authorities, based on forensics and intelligence. The fate of two, including Joshi, is unknown.
Hamas has indicated that recovering the bodies of some of the dead hostages may take time, as not all burial sites are known. A special international task force is meant to help locate them all.
One of these deceased is an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 Israel-Hamas war, and the remainder were all among the 251 hostages taken in Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023, attack, which precipitated the war.
Some were already dead when taken, others were slain by the captors or killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza.
(Reporting by Pesha Magid and Maayan Lubell; Editing by David Holmes)
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