More than a year after Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023 – killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 captive – around 80 hostages remain, although Israel believes around a third are dead.
A ceasefire deal currently in place promises the release of the hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The first stage of the ceasefire to due to last six weeks and see “a full and complete ceasefire” while 33 hostages in Gaza and up to 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israel are to be freed. The hostages released will include women, the elderly and the sick.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said all but eight of the 33 were thought to be alive.
In the second stage, the remaining living hostages, including men, would be released in return for more Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
After the release of 18 of the hostages over the first three weeks, Hamas announced it would stop releasing hostages until further notice over what it claimed were Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
A spokesman said Israel had delayed allowing displaced Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, targeted Gazans with military shelling and gunfire and had stopped relief materials entering the territory. Both Israel and Hamas have previously accused the other of violating the truce .
In reply to the Hamas statement, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement with its announcement and that he had instructed the military to prepare at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and to defend Israeli communities.
The first three hostages, Romi Gonen, 24, Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and Emily Damari, 28, were released on 19 January, alongside 90 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails. Four more hostages were released on 25 January – female Israeli soldiers Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners who were being kept in Israeli jails.
On 30 January, Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20, Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man were released.
Ms Yehoud was believed to be the last remaining female civilian held hostage in Gaza. Another civilian woman, mother Shiri Bibas, remains in Gaza but the Israeli military has expressed grave concern for her life.
Israel refused to open the Netzarim corridor to northern Gaza on 25 January, as scheduled, after Hamas declined to include Ms Yehoud in that day’s swap. After US, Egyptian and Qatari mediation, it was agreed Ms Yehoud would be swapped a few days later, breaking the tradition of the exchanges taking place on the weekends. The corridor was then opened, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return home to northern Gaza, though much of it has been destroyed.
On Friday 31 January, Hamas named Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54 as the next Israelis to be released. They were released on Saturday, with Mr Bibas and Mr Kalderon handed to the Red Cross in southern Gaza and Mr Siegel released separately in Gaza City, to the north of the Strip.
