The Israel-Hamas War: The Hostages

Hamas Takes Hostages
A Deadly Error
Pause for Hostage Release
Hamas Reneges on Deal
Negotiation Stalemate
A Dramatic Rescue
UN Supports Biden Plan
Guarded Optimism
More Hostages Found Dead
Losing Hope
New Offers, Same Response
Ceasefire and Hostage Deal Reached
The Price of Freedom
Israel Withdraws From Netzarim Corridor
Heartbreak for the Bibas Family
First Phase of Deal Concludes
Fighting Resumes

See also: Hostage Testimonies

Hamas Takes Hostages

Table in “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv
with empty seats for each hostage

In addition to the horrific murders of October 7, 2023, Israelis were also appalled to learn that more than 100 hostages were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and taken to Gaza. This number was later revised to 242 and then 251. Of those, 200 were men, and 51 were women. Most of the hostages were civilians, including a Holocaust survivor, older adults, women, six Bedouins, and 32 children as young as nine months. At least 12 Americans and nationals from several other countries were among those kidnapped. A video showed four Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were killed soon after being taken captive.

The IDF recovered a manual from one of the terrorists with instructions on how to handle the Israelis they captured. It said “those expected to resist and those that pose a threat” should be killed. The rest should be blindfolded, then “reassured,” to keep them obedient. “Use them as human shields,” it says, and use “electric shocks” to control them. Kids were to be separated from their parents. The directions in the manual indicate the terrorists expected to be forced into a standoff with Israeli troops and advised them to collect supplies to survive a siege.

Hamas official Khaled Meshaal said the group had kidnapped enough Israeli soldiers to negotiate the release of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Captured terrorists revealed during interrogations that they had been ordered to kidnap civilians, including older people and children. One said, “Whoever brings a hostage back [to Gaza] gets $10,000 and an apartment.”

President Joe Biden said he was sending experts to help secure the release of hostages. Reportedly, these included FBI negotiators and special forces hostage rescue teams. “We’re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise on assist and recovery.” He added, “Folks, there’s a lot we’re doing, I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home.”

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar were reportedly seeking to facilitate an agreement to exchange Israeli women and children for women in Israeli jails. Reuters said that Qatar was trying to arrange the exchange of the women and children for 36 Palestinian women and children held by Israel. Israel denied the reports.

Hamas official Ali Baraka said that any hostage exchange should include Hamas prisoners in Europe.

As one would expect, the families of the missing in Israel beseeched public officials for aid for their loved ones.

The number of hostages seriously complicates the Israeli response. Hamas hides them and uses them as human shields to discourage attacks on their positions. Without knowing their location, Israel could inadvertently harm them in airstrikes. Even if the hostages can be found, special forces are likely to face heavily armed terrorists who might kill their captives, or they might be injured in the crossfire.

In addition, a Hamas spokesperson threatened to kill Israeli hostages if Israeli airstrikes hit civilian homes in Gaza without warning.

On October 20, 2023, two American hostages, Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, were released. Hamas acknowledged that Qatar played a role in negotiating their release.

Two more female hostages were released three days later. Nurit Yitzhak (79) and Yocheved Lifshitz (85) from Kibbutz Nir Oz were set free for “compelling humanitarian and health reasons.” Their husbands remained captive, so it was understandable the two women would be reticent about saying too much publicly about their treatment. Lifshitz did say she had been “through hell,” was beaten, and held in a “spider’s web” of underground tunnels in Gaza. She also related that a doctor had treated injured hostages because “they were scared we’d become sick.”

Though happy for their release, Israeli officials were concerned about negotiations for only dual citizens. “Israel will not be a party to a ‘selection’ for holders of foreign passports for release,” an allusion to the process used by the Nazis to decide which Jews would live and die in some death camps.

Still, Israel hoped that delaying its ground offensive would result in progress in hostage negotiations. National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called Qatar’s efforts to secure the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas “crucial.”

Hamas claimed that some 50 hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel did not confirm this.

On October 30, Israeli forces rescued Pvt. Ori Megidish.

A Deadly Error

A devastating accident occurred on December 15 when IDF soldiers mistakenly killed three hostages. According to early reports, the men had either escaped or been abandoned. They came out of a building without shirts, apparently to show the soldiers they did not have any explosives on their bodies. One also carried a white cloth. The IDF said the soldiers did not correctly follow the rules of engagement. The IDF chief of staff accepted responsibility while explaining the challenges of urban warfare and the need for soldiers to be alert for ambushes and booby traps. The entire nation was heartbroken by the news, and families of other hostages saw the incident as another reason to accelerate efforts to negotiate their release. Days earlier, they were infuriated by news that the government would not allow the Mossad chief to return to Qatar for talks. After the hostages, he reportedly met with Qatari officials to resume negotiations.

The families who don’t know if their loved ones are dead or alive are in agony and, understandably, want the government to do everything possible to ensure their safe return. They want to accept Hamas’s demands that all terrorists in Israeli jails be released in exchange for the hostages. The government has given no indication it is willing to make such a deal, though, in the past, it has.

The Pentagon revealed that U.S. special operations forces and drones are in Israel to help Israel “identify hostages, including American hostages.” The New York Times said other Western nations had also moved special forces closer to Israel to help with possible rescue or evacuation operations.

On November 9, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) released a video of an older woman and young boy it said they were holding and were prepared to release.

Chairs and gifts for missing children in “Hostage Square”

Late in the evening of November 20, the Israeli cabinet agreed to a deal for the release of 30 children, eight mothers, and 12 other women over four days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged not to accept a ceasefire unless all the hostages were released, but under pressure from the families and the United States, he backed down. According to the deal, Israel would release three Palestinian prisoners for every hostage, a total of 150 females and young adults. Their names were to be published so members of the public would have an opportunity to object to freeing a particular inmate responsible for a crime against them. Israel said it would increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, halt its ground operations, and suspend aerial surveillance so long as Hamas lived up to the bargain, with ten hostages released each day. Hamas agreed to allow the Red Cross to visit hostages and bring them medicine.

Netanyahu credited President Biden for his involvement, which he said resulted in more hostages being released with fewer Israeli concessions. In previous days, Biden had been pressuring the Qataris, the principal mediaries, to work harder to make a deal.

Netanyahu promised to resume the war after the hostages were brought home, but there was an intimation that so long as Hamas continued releasing captives, Israel would hold its fire. While everyone understood the pressure on him to find an answer for the families, fears were also expressed that the ceasefire would allow Hamas to regroup, move, and set more boobytraps. These concerns were the reason Netanyahu had opposed a truce.

Pause for Hostage Release

The ceasefire went into effect at 7:00 a.m. GMT on November 24. Fifteen minutes later, a rocket was launched from Gaza and intercepted by the Iron Dome. Israel did not respond. The first 13 hostages were released at 4:00 p.m. Israel then set 39 Palestinian prisoners free. Ten Thai and one Filipino captives were let go after the Thai government negotiated a deal with Iranian mediation.

Netanyahu’s office claimed that Israel had negotiated the inclusion of a clause in the hostage deal for the ICRC to visit all of the remaining hostages; however, the ICRC said it was unaware of this, and Hamas insisted no visits would be allowed.

Hamas delayed the release of the second batch of hostages, making false claims about Israel failing to comply with the terms of the agreement. Hamas said the agreed number of aid trucks had not been allowed into Gaza and objected to Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners who were near the end of their sentences. Representatives from Qatar took the unprecedented step of flying to Israel to pressure Hamas to fulfill its commitment. The U.S., through Qatar and Egypt, also pressed Hamas to act. Israel threatened to resume fighting if the hostages were not released by midnight. Near the deadline, 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals were released, including seven Israeli children ranging in age from 3 to 16 and six Israeli women ranging in age from 18 to 67.

Among those freed was 9-year-old Emily Hand, an Israeli-Irish girl who was initially believed to have been killed by Hamas. The Irish Prime Minister angered Israelis when he said, “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen tweeted: “Emily Hand was not ‘lost,’ she was kidnapped by a terror organization worse than ISIS that murdered her stepmother. Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas, and you @LeoVaradkar are trying to legitimize and normalize terror. Shame on you!”

On the third day of the ceasefire, Hamas released nine children, four women, four Thai workers, and one Russian-Israeli, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin had demanded be freed. The children included Israeli-American Abigail Irdan, who had just turned four and whose parents were killed in front of her on October 7. Elma Avraham, 84, was airlifted directly to Soroka Hospital and was reportedly in serious condition.

President Biden expressed joy at Irdan’s release, but 10 Americans remained unaccounted for. At least two were believed to be hostages.

Israel released 39 convicted Palestinian women and minors from prison and allowed 200 trucks to transport humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

One of many teddy bears placed on benches in Tel Aviv, representing hostages

Families reunited with those released said they had been kept underground in tunnels for their entire captivity, and their eyes had to adjust to the sunlight. Some slept on chairs pushed together. Food was also scarce; they were fed limited rice and bread and returned malnourished. Most captives did not know the fate of other family members, some of whom were killed on October 7. Irdan, for example, did not know she was now an orphan. Others reportedly could listen to Hebrew language radio and heard that their relatives had died in the Hamas attack.

One female hostage whose arm was injured said a veterinarian treated her. Two brothers, 12 and 16, said they were branded so that if they escaped, they could be identified. Relatives of 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi said he was beaten, forced to watch video footage of atrocities Hamas committed on October 7, and threatened with guns along with other children when they cried. The children were forbidden to make noise; all they could do to pass the time in captivity was to draw a little and play with cards. Emily Hand, 9, returned with a head full of lice and spoke only in whispers.

The Russian Israeli, Roni Kariboy, said the building where he was being held was bombed and collapsed. He escaped but was captured by Gaza civilians, who turned him over to Hamas.

One of the captives said she and other hostages were taken to Khan Yunis, and after an hour’s walk, they entered a tunnel and walked two more hours until they reached a large hall where they met a terrorist who introduced himself in Hebrew. “Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar,” he said. “You are the safest here. Nothing will happen to you.” Then he left. The hostages were probably unaware that Sinwar was the leader of Hamas.

Biden said his goal is “to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief to those in need in Gaza.” In response, Netanyahu acknowledged, “There is a plan that says it is possible to free, every extra day, another ten hostages. That is welcome. In the same breath, I also told the president we will return, with our full might, to achieve our objectives: Hamas’s annihilation, and ensure that Gaza not revert to being what it was, and of course, to free all of our hostages.”

After the first three days of the ceasefire, 18 children and 43 women were still believed to be hostages. Hamas was said to be unaware of the location of all the remaining captives. Israel and Hamas were arguing over the last group to be released and accusing each other of bad faith. Israel said Hamas had violated the agreement to release children and their mothers together after 13-year-old Hila Rotem was freed without her mother.

The asymmetry of the exchanges is reflected not only in the 3 to 1 ratio of prisoners to hostages released but also in the fact that the Palestinians have all been convicted or charged with violent crimes while the Israelis are all innocent civilians. The Palestinians are teenagers, most older than 16, while Jewish captives are as young as ten months old.

What was initially set to be the final exchange was threatened when Hamas broke the ceasefire, attacking IDF troops along a beach road in northern Gaza and attaching an explosive device to an Israeli vehicle near the Rantisi Hospital. Israel did not immediately retaliate, and 11 hostages were released – nine children and two mothers. Still, the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother, and their parents, Yarden and Shiri, remained captive.

The IDF also announced that three of the soldiers abducted on October 7 were dead. Israel said it would not extend the ceasefire beyond the two additional days agreed to the day before. The ground campaign would resume after the exchange on November 28.

On November 29, Hamas released ten hostages, including one American. Two Russian Israelis were freed separately at Putin’s request. The following day, only eight Israelis were let go in violation of the agreement that ten would be released each day to maintain the pause in fighting. Hamas claimed the two Russians from the day before should be counted.

Hamas Reneges on Deal

Talks broke down when Hamas offered to release only seven hostages and three bodies. Israel rejected the idea of exchanging live prisoners for hostages’ bodies. Then, when Hamas failed to produce a list of hostages that it was prepared to release by the deadline on December 1 and renewed rocket attacks on southern Israel, the ceasefire ended, and Israel resumed its campaign.

i24 News reported that before the ceasefire ended, 105 hostages -81 Israelis, 23 Thais, and one Filipino had been freed. An additional Israeli thought to have been kidnapped was found dead on December 1. Another hostage was reported dead on December 9. Hamas claimed the youngest hostage, a 10-month-old infant, was killed along with his four-year-old brother and their mother. Later, it said it would release the family but violated the truce that day, and their fate is unknown.Qatar and Egypt worked on an agreement to end the war by arranging an exchange of all the hostages for thousands of Palestinian terrorists, exiling Hamas leaders the way the PLO was allowed to leave Lebanon in 1982, with an Israeli promise not to assassinate them. Gaza would be demilitarized, but it was unclear who the governing authority would be. Israel showed no interest in this idea, and Sinwar rejected it. Israel has also said it would not accept Hamas’s demands to end the war, release all Palestinian prisoners, and withdraw its troops as a precondition for negotiations. Netanyahu said, “If we agree to this, then our warriors fell in vain. If we agree to this, we won’t be able to ensure the security of our citizens.” Nevertheless, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar were reportedly working on a deal in hopes of ending the war.

Negotiation Stalemate

On January 16, 2024, Israel and Hamas reached a deal, brokered by Qatar and France, to allow for medication to be delivered to Israeli hostages in return for the delivery of more medicine and aid to Palestinian civilians. According to the arrangement, Gazans were to receive 1,000 boxes of medicine for each one provided to the hostages. Hamas also had demanded that Israel be prevented from inspecting the aid delivery, but after right-wing members of the government objected, Netanyahu said they would be checked. Israel has no way to ensure the hostages get the medication as Hamas still refused to allow the Red Cross to visit them.

In a meeting with hostage families on January 22, Netanyahu said Israel, not Hamas, had made an offer to free the hostages. Israeli news reported the Israeli proposal called for the remaining women and elderly hostages to be released first, followed by young men and then soldiers, along with the bodies of killed hostages. In exchange, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners, pause fighting for 30 days, withdraw forces from the main population centers, and allow the gradual return of Palestinians to the north.

Negotiations continued with different formulas for trading hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a ceasefire. Still, Hamas rejected every proposal, insisting that Israel first remove all its troops from Gaza, agree to a permanent ceasefire, and release most, if not all, of the security prisoners in Israeli jails. As desperately as Israel wanted the hostages back, the government would not agree to any deal that would inhibit its ability to crush Hamas and ensure it could not govern or threaten Israeli border communities. Officials maintained that continuing the military campaign was necessary to pressure Hamas to accept a deal.

“Surrender to Hamas’s delusional demands, that we’ve just heard, not only would not bring about the freedom of the hostages, but it would only invite an additional slaughter; it would invite disaster for Israel that no Israeli citizens want,” Netanyahu said on February 7, 2024.

Hostage families continued to pressure the government to do anything to win the release of their loved ones. Divisions were also reported within the war cabinet, with some members arguing that freeing the hostages must take priority over fighting Hamas.

As the military campaign continued, the bodies of several hostages were recovered. On January 3, 2024, the IDF confirmed that one hostage, Sahur Baruch, was killed during a failed rescue attempt. Hamas still held his body.

In early February came the grim news that of the 136 people still known to be hostages, more than 30, and perhaps as many as 50 were dead. 

Hamas was believed to hold most of the hostages; PIJ and crime organizations held the rest. The remaining hostages include 20 women, two minors, ten people aged 75 or older, and 11 foreign citizens. Including Israelis, hostages have citizenship from 21 countries, including six from the United States.

The United States and the UK have supported the effort to locate the hostages using unarmed drone flights over Gaza. The possibility of a rescue, however, appeared less and less likely as time went on, in part because of the belief that the hostages were being used as shields. It was reported, for example, that Israel knew where Sinwar was hiding but couldn’t get to him because he surrounded himself with hostages.

On February 11, a dramatic rescue operation carried out by Israeli special forces rescued two hostages who were being held in a building rather than a tunnel. The two men, ages 61 and 70, were in good condition. The joy of their return was tempered by the knowledge that 134 remained in captivity.

Some 100 relatives of hostages traveled to the Hague on February 14, 2024, to submit charges of kidnapping, sexual violence, torture, and other crimes to the International Criminal Court.

The U.S. continued to push for a deal that would end the war. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. was “looking for a temporary pause as part of the hostage deal, and then to build on that into something more enduring.”

Negotiations continued but showed no signs of progress as Hamas continued to make unacceptable demands for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and release thousands of prisoners.

Israeli forces discovered unopened packages of medications with the names of hostages in the Nasser Hospital in late February, a month after the medications were supposed to be delivered. Qatar subsequently said it received confirmation from Hamas that medications were being distributed to the hostages. Israel has no way to verify the claim.

On March 5, President Biden called for a ceasefire before Ramadan, knowing that Israel has said it will begin its ground offensive in Rafah if one is not secured. The administration said Israel had accepted conditions proposed by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar and that the ball was in Hamas’s court.

Hamas continued to make demands that Israel considered unreasonable, and Ramadan began without any progress in the negotiations. Despite Hamas calling for support from Palestinians during the holiday and marching on the Temple Mount, the first week passed peacefully in Jerusalem.

Hersh Goldberg

Families of the hostages and their supporters continued to protest and urge the government to reach a deal. The United States and other foreign governments also pressured Israel because of their desire to see a ceasefire to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and for the war to end. Israel, however, remained adamant it would not accept Hamas’s demands to withdraw its forces, end the war, and release hundreds of prisoners, including murderers serving life sentences.

After more than six months, Hamas continued to refuse to reveal the fate of any of the hostages, one of Israel’s demands. Israel did determine that Hamas was holding the bodies of more people who died on October 7. Soldiers recovered the body of one hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz after receiving information from the interrogation of terrorists. The number believed captive was reduced to 133, including five Americans, with fewer than 100 thought to be still alive. The number could be smaller as Hamas has said for propaganda purposes that 70 died in Israeli attacks. In negotiations for the release of 40 hostages, Hamas said it only had 20, raising alarms about how many were still alive. Another Hamas official, however, said that information was incorrect and claimed 30 IDF officers were being held in secure places.

In late April, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Hersh Goldberg. It was the first sign of life since a video of him being kidnapped with part of his arm missing. The video, which the family agreed to release to the public, further inflamed passions in Israel for a deal to bring all the hostages home after more than 200 days of captivity. Negotiations were ongoing, with Israel reportedly prepared to accept as few as 20 hostages in a prisoner exchange. Hamas, however, was sticking to its demand for an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

President Biden and Abigail Idan

In Washington, President Biden met with four-year-old Abigail Idan and her family. Abigail, an American citizen, saw her parents killed in front of her before being taken hostage. She was released during the ceasefire. “Our time together yesterday was a reminder of the work we have in front of us to secure the release of all remaining hostages,” he said.

The following day, Biden and the leaders of 17 other countries released a joint statement calling for the immediate release of the hostages.

At the end of April, Israel made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called an “extraordinarily generous” proposal to pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages. “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” he said. Reportedly, one of the concessions Israel made was to ask for only 33 hostages instead of 40 in the first phase of the agreement. This may be because fewer hostages are still alive. Israel also offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of perhaps thousands of prisoners.

The proposal has caused a rift in the government, with far-right members threatening to bring down the government if the invasion of Rafah is canceled. With the support of other ministers, Netanyahu has prioritized reaching a hostage deal. Nevertheless, he reiterated, “The idea that we stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve absolute victory.”

Meanwhile, to increase the psychological pressure and torment on Israelis, Hamas released new videos with three hostages reading coerced scripts and calling on their government to make a deal.

Another hostage was declared dead, leaving 128 in captivity, including the bodies of at least 35 as of May 3, 2024.

Hamas continued to insist that Israel end the war and withdraw entirely from Gaza in hostage negotiations, which was a rejection of the deal Israel was prepared to accept. Consequently, Israel began issuing evacuation warnings to residents of Rafah on May 6 in anticipation of a ground operation. By May 20, nearly one million had left.

While the focus was on Rafah, the IDF reinvaded Jabaliya, where forces recovered the bodies of four hostages from a tunnel, raising the official number of dead to 43 as of May 17. The discovery of the bodies was possible because of field intelligence and information obtained from interrogating terrorists who had been arrested. Only one of the four was previously thought to be dead. The bodies were found in body bags, which was interpreted as a sign that Hamas was planning to return them in a ceasefire deal.

Ynet published a report that the last round of hostage negotiations collapsed because Egypt secretly changed the terms Israel had agreed to. The change “led to outrage among officials in Israel, as well as in the United States and Qatar, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.”

On May 23, the IDF found three more bodies of hostages in tunnels in Jabalya. One held Mexican and French citizenship, and another was Brazilian. The number of captives was then thought to be 125, though more could be dead.

The families of hostages released a video showing the capture and mistreatment of five female Israeli soldiers. Surrounded by armed terrorists, some are bloodied and wounded. Seven women who worked as lookouts near the border of Gaza, ages 19 or 20, were taken hostage on October 7. One was rescued early in the war, and a second was killed in captivity. The video showed the five believed to be still alive. The footage was made public to pressure the government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would free their loved ones.

On May 31, President Biden laid out a three-phase Israeli proposal that pairs the release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire,” which he described as the best hope to end the war in Gaza. Phase 1 would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.” Phase 2 would involve the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.” Biden added that “as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently.’” In Phase 3, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence, and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families,” the president said.

In response to Biden’s proposal for a ceasefire, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, repeated his demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire and withdraw all its troops. He added that the group would not surrender its weapons.

A Dramatic Rescue

On June 8, 2024, Israeli forces rescued four hostages – Noa Argamani (26), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (41) – from Hamas in central Gaza in a complex operation that took months to plan and was conducted during daylight to surprise the guards. The four, two concert-goers and two security guards, were kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Re’im on October 7. The elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit and Shin Bet agents coordinated a simultaneous raid on two civilian buildings in Nuseirat, where Hamas hid the hostages and paid families to hold them. Argamani was found at one site while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the other. The operation came with a heavy cost, however, as Yamam commander Arnon Zmora was killed. Given his ultimate sacrifice, the operation was renamed “Operation Arnon.”

The U.S. acknowledged providing intelligence to assist the operation. The Washington Post subsequently reported, “The United States has ramped up intelligence collection on the militant group in Gaza and is sharing an extraordinary amount of drone footage, satellite imagery, communications intercepts and data analysis using advanced software, some of it powered by artificial intelligence” to assist in the search for hostages.

Subsequently, false rumors circulated about more direct U.S. involvement, including a specious claim that the U.S.-built pier was used in the operation.

The Hamas Health Ministry immediately claimed that hundreds of civilians were killed during the operation. Israel acknowledged that some died because the hostages were held in a densely populated civilian area and that the rescuers came under intense fire from terrorists in the homes where the hostages were held and from the surrounding area as they led the “diamonds,” as they were code-named, to safety. 

The hostages were initially said to be in good physical condition after their more than eight-month ordeal; however, reports subsequently indicated they were malnourished and were exhibiting signs of Stockholm syndrome. The three men spent six months sleeping on mattresses on the floor in a dark room. They said the guards beat them and threatened their lives. 

Ziv said he learned Arabic from Al-Jazeera broadcasts he watched in captivity and that their captors made them read the Koran and pray every day.

Argamani also learned Arabic and said she used the language to help other female hostages who had been held with her to get things from their captors. She was held in four different apartments, she said, and was forced to cook and wash dishes in the last home, reportedly belonging to a wealthy Palestinian family. She was unaware that soldiers had come to rescue her until one asked if he could put her over his shoulder. Their escape was complicated, she said, when the truck they were using to escape broke down. When she got to Israel, she was taken to see her mother, who had terminal cancer.

Kozlov’s parents flew in to see him from St. Petersburg.

One heartbreaking aspect of the story was that the father of Almog Meir died hours before his son was released. Meir’s aunt said her brother had grown despondent and stayed mostly alone and likely died of a heart attack.

After the operation, it was reported that the three male hostages were held in the home of Abdallah Aljamal, a Palestinian journalist and member of Hamas.

On June 10, 2024, it was reported that senior officials in the U.S. administration discussed the possibility of negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas for the release of the five Israeli-American hostages still held in Gaza if talks with Israel don’t result in an agreement. The Biden administration believes Hamas is holding five U.S. citizens hostage: Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Omer Neutra, and Keith Siegel, as well as the bodies of three other American citizens who were murdered on October 7.

UN Supports Biden Plan

On the same day, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted U.S.-led resolution 2735, following President Biden’s initiative to end the war and release all Israeli hostages. The resolution reiterates the three-phase plan previously laid out by President Biden, with minor modifications after U.S. consultations with other Security Council members. The resolution was viewed as increasing pressure on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement; however, Hamas added what Blinken called unworkable changes that Israel immediately rejected.

Biden became increasingly critical of Hamas, saying, “Hamas needs to move” while insisting on June 13 that he hadn’t lost hope.

More evidence of civilian complicity in the holding of hostages was revealed after the rescue of the four hostages in private homes. During Ada Sagi’s 53 days in captivity, she said she was hidden in a family home with children, a nurse’s apartment, and a hospital. She said she overheard students being paid to watch over hostages.

Sagi believed she had been in Nasser Hospital, where some ten hostages were kept, one of whom remains in captivity. The hospital director denied that hostages were at the hospital. When the IDF raided the hospital in February, it found 200 terrorists, weapons, and medicine that were supposed to be delivered to the hostages.

On June 20, the nation was shocked to hear that as many as 66 of the 116 hostages (102 men, 16 women, and two children) still held by Hamas were dead, leaving only 50 alive. The Wall Street Journal reported that the information came from a U.S. official familiar with U.S. intelligence and mediators in the hostage negotiations.

A few days later, hostage families, most of whom already were demonstrating against Netanyahu because they believed he was not doing enough to bring their loved ones home, were outraged when Netanyahu renounced the deal he had agreed to with the Biden administration. On June 23, he said, “I am ready to do a partial deal, it is no secret, that will bring back some of the people. But we are committed to continue the war after the pause in order to achieve the goal of destroying Hamas. I will not give up on this.”

The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, an NGO that represents most of the hostages’ families, responded: “We strongly condemn the Prime Minister’s statement in which he walked back from the Israeli proposal. This means he is abandoning 120 hostages and harms the moral duty of the state of Israel to its citizens.”

The following day, the families of three of the hostages released a video taken by their kidnappers showing them thrown into a pickup truck, setting off a new round of criticism. Later that day, Netanyahu admitted that the proposal was his. “We are committed to the Israeli proposal, which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed.”

Netanyahu also had to shoot down a report in the New York Times that the military establishment supported a ceasefire if it led to the release of the hostages. Netanyahu said, “I don’t know who those unnamed parties are, but I’m here to make it unequivocally clear: it won’t happen… We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages.”

In the United States, a lawsuit was filed against UNRWA on behalf of victims of the Hamas massacre. The agency and its current and former senior officials are accused of aiding and abetting Hamas. “Defendants were warned repeatedly that their policies were directly providing assistance to Hamas. In the face of those warnings, Defendants continued those very policies,” the plaintiffs allege. “The resulting atrocities were foreseeable, and the Defendants are liable for aiding and abetting Hamas’ genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture.”

On July 1, the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal lawsuit alongside more than 100 American victims and survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and their family members, accusing Iran, Syria, and North Korea of providing material support for the attacks and seeking compensation from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

Guarded Optimism

Some optimism was expressed when Hamas dropped its demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing an agreement to release the hostages. Hamas reportedly said it would be willing to negotiate the truce during the deal’s first phase. Hamas was demanding that mediators guarantee a temporary ceasefire, the delivery of aid, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops while negotiations continued on implementing the second phase of the agreement. 

The deal on the table was to include three stages:

• In stage one, a six-week ceasefire would take effect, during which 18-31 women, elderly, and wounded from among the hostages would be released. The IDF would continue to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and allow for the return of some displaced northern Gazans to their areas of residence.
• After 16 days of stage one, negotiations would occur for stage two, during which the remaining male hostages would be freed, and Israel would release Palestinian security prisoners currently held in Israeli jails.
• In stage three, any remaining hostages would be released, including the bodies of those who have already died. A process of reconstruction would begin in Gaza.

Netanyahu appeared to throw cold water on the prospects for a deal in reported conflict with the security services, IDF, and the mediators when he declared that Israel had four non-negotiable demands:

• Any deal will allow Israel to resume fighting until all of the objectives of the war have been achieved.
• There will be no smuggling of weapons to Hamas from Egypt to the Gaza border.
• There will be no return of thousands of armed terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip.
• Israel will maximize the number of living hostages who will be released from Hamas captivity.

Israel and Hamas also remained at loggerheads over several issues, most notably how many and which Palestinians would be released in exchange for the hostages. Netanyahu insisted on holding a veto over which prisoners Hamas asked to be released, a provision Hamas found unacceptable. Other obstacles included how Israel could allow citizens to return to their homes in the north without terrorists moving with them, whether Israel would have to stop its surveillance flights over Gaza during the ceasefire, and whether Israel would remove its troops from the Philadelphi Corridor. On the last point, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk Israel could withdraw forces from the Philadelphi Corridor if a solution is found to arms smuggling.

Even Netanyahu’s red lines went too far for the extremists in his coalition. They threatened to bolt from the coalition and bring down the government. However, opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid said their parties would support Netanyahu if a deal were signed.

Much of the Israeli public was growing increasingly angry at the failure of the government to free the hostages, with tens of thousands of people protesting, marching on the homes of the prime minister and government ministers, and calling for elections.

On July 16, 2024, a picture of four IDF surveillance soldiers held hostage was made public by their families. The relatives hoped to add pressure on the government to make a deal.

From left: Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Karina Ariev. 

In a sign that Gazans might also be disenchanted with Hamas, the AP reported that senior Hamas officials were advocating the acceptance of the ceasefire. The messages indicated Sinwar might be unaware of the depth of the destruction in Gaza, which assumed the information would affect his decision-making, an idea some analysts doubted.

President Biden met with Liat Beinin Atzili, a dual U.S. citizen and survivor of the massacre, on July 8, 2024. He told her, “my work isn’t done until we secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.”

More Hostages Found Dead

On July 22, 2024, the IDF announced that two more hostages were dead, bringing the official total of those confirmed dead to 45 of the remaining 120.

On July 25, 2024, the IDF reported that the bodies of Sergeant Major (Res.) Ravid Aryeh Katz, Omer Goldin, Maya Goren, Tomer Ahimas, and Kiril Brodski were retrieved from Gaza. The operation, conducted by the military and the Shin Bet, relied on precise intelligence and involved no confrontation with terrorists. The bodies were found hidden in a tunnel in the Khan Younis area that had been designated as a protected humanitarian area, illustrating again how Hamas exploits Israeli efforts to protect civilians.

Location where hostage bodies were found.

On July 26, 2024, it was reported that Hamas rejected Israel’s proposed changes to a hostage release deal. The changes included a vetting mechanism for civilians returning to northern Gaza to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the area disguised as civilians and Israel’s retention of the Philadelphi Corridor, which Egypt also opposed.

On July 31, 2024, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader and Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, in a pre-dawn airstrike in Tehran, Iran. Israel had pledged to kill anyone involved in the October 7 massacre. Some analysts questioned the timing since Haniyeh was engaged in the hostage negotiations and believed his killing was likely to harm the talks.

Biden spoke to Netanyahu on August 1 and complained the prime minister was obstructing efforts to finalize a ceasefire, reportedly telling him, “stop bullshitting me.” The president was angry that the assassination of Haniyeh could jeopardize the hostage negotiations and trigger a wider war. At the end of what was described as a testy conversation, Biden reportedly said: “Don’t take the president for granted.”

Later, Biden said, “I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today — very direct. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.”

Netanyahu repeatedly claimed that it was Hamas, not him, who was adding conditions to the deal the United States said Israel agreed to. Netanyahu was also at odds with his own military and intelligence chiefs, who believed he was jeopardizing the hostages’ lives. The prime minister was holding fast to his insistence on several conditions that were not in the Biden proposal he accepted in May:

• Maintaining a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah crossing to prevent further Hamas smuggling and rearmament.
• Creating a mechanism to prevent the return of terrorists to northern Gaza.
• Hamas turning over the names of the hostages to be freed in the first stage of the deal.
• Having a veto over which prisoners would be released and where they could go. 

The negotiating team expressed a willingness to be more flexible in the talks, and defense officials argued Israel could afford to make compromises and needed to do so to end the suffering of the hostages. Netanyahu, however, remained unmoved, agreeing only to continue talks as Biden continued to pressure him to end the war.

As tensions increased with Iran and Hezbollah threatening to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of their men, some hope was held out that a ceasefire deal could be struck to preempt it. The more worrisome possibility was that an attack on Israel would occur before an agreement could be reached and scuttle the negotiations.

Hamas claimed on August 12, 2024, that a guard had killed a male captive and seriously wounded two female hostages whose lives the group was trying to save. Israel was unable to confirm the information.

A reminder of the cost of making a deal with terrorists came with the news that an Israeli was seriously wounded by a terrorist who was released from prison in November in that hostage exchange.

The Biden administration was casting an August 15 meeting in Doha as the final chance for a ceasefire, which it hoped would also forestall Iranian and Hezbollah revenge attacks on Israel. Hamas and Israel traded accusations over who was demanding changes to the May 27 proposal of the United States. The day before, Hamas said it would not participate in the negotiations, and no one representing the group showed up, leaving Qatar to speak for the group. 

On the 16th, Biden received an update on the talks, saying the U.S. delegation advanced a bridging proposal. He said he was sending Blinken to Israel “to reaffirm my iron-clad support for Israel’s security, continue our intensive efforts to conclude this agreement and to underscore that with the comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal now in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process.”

After meeting Netanyahu, Blinken said the prime minister accepted the American proposal and that Hamas must do the same. Sinwar, however, reportedly believed that negotiations were a bluff meant to grant Israel further time to continue its military offensive, and Biden said after his speech to the Democratic National Convention that “Israel says they can work it out… Hamas is now backing away.”

Hamas then issued a statement calling Biden’s remarks an “American green light for the Zionist extremist government to commit more crimes against defenseless civilians.” It said the U.S. bridging proposal was a reversal of what had been agreed upon in July and that the U.S. was biased toward Israel.

The number of hostages was reduced to 109 less than 24 hours later when Israeli troops recovered the bodies of six men in a tunnel in southern Gaza. All had been captured alive on October 7, three from Kibbutz Nir Oz and two from the border community of Nirim. An estimated 73 hostages are still alive. Two children, Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old when he was abducted, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel, are the only children still held. Seven are foreign nationals – six Thais and one Nepali. Most of the others are Israeli or dual citizens.
 

Top left to right: Nadav Popplewell, 51; Yoram Metzger, 80;
Avraham Munder, 78; Chaim Peri, 79; Yagev Buchshtav, 35;
Alex Dancyg, 75 (z"l), recovered by the IDF on August 20, 2024.

While negotiations over a hostage deal appeared stalemated, the IDF found 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin Farhan al-Qadi in a tunnel on August 27. He was shot in the leg on October 7 at Kibbutz Magen, where he was a security guard, when he refused to tell the terrorists where to find Jews. The kidnappers took him to a hospital, where he said his wound was stitched with a needle and thread without any anesthetic. Afterward, he was held in an apartment for two months with other hostages before being taken to a tunnel where he was alone in the dark, except for his guards, for the remainder of his captivity. He was not given any special treatment because he was a Muslim and was fed little more than slices of bread. When his guards heard soldiers drilling nearby, they planted explosives in the tunnel. Al-Qadi told the soldiers where they were so they could be defused.

Al-Qadi was the eighth hostage to be rescued, the first from a tunnel. This reduced the number of hostages to 108 (including four taken before October 7). Two days later, the body of another hostage, an Israeli soldier killed on October 7, was recovered.

The Jewish Chronicle reminded readers that one of the most significant and overlooked obstacles to a ceasefire is that Hamas only holds about 20 of the hostages; many, if not all, are handcuffed around Sinwar. Other hostages are held by smaller terror and criminal groups, some of which are opposed to Sinwar and others who want to ensure prisoners from their organizations are released in any deal. They also reject the Israeli idea of deporting the prisoners rather than allowing them to go to Gaza or the West Bank. Hence, even if Sinwar were to agree to a deal, he probably could not deliver all the hostages. 

Disagreements between the security establishment and the prime minister surfaced once again after the cabinet endorsed Netanyahu’s position that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor. This stance was contrary to the views of defense officials, who suggested that Israel could withdraw from the area to facilitate a deal without compromising security. Defense Minister Gallant argued that reaching an agreement was essential for securing the return of hostages, de-escalating hostilities, and creating an opportunity to prevent a regional war. He emphasized that such an agreement could incentivize Hezbollah and Iran to stand down. However, Sinwar seemed determined to provoke a multifront war against Israel and might, therefore, be inclined to reject a hostage deal.

While the government ministers argued among themselves and protests continued calling for a ceasefire and return of the hostages, the IDF continued its search for additional hostages in the tunnels. The country was again shocked when soldiers found six bodies in another tunnel more than 60 feet underground, not far from where al-Qadi was rescued. The entrance to the tunnel was in a kindergarten, with walls covered with Disney characters.

From top left: Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin,
Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi

“Since Farhan was found, troops were given an emphasis on operating carefully even more than usual, because of the understanding that additional hostages might be in the area. We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel said.

Losing Hope

Apparently, their captors heard soldiers nearby and executed the four men and two women they held. All six were shot multiple times at close range. Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, and Eden Yerushalmi were also kidnapped from the Nova festival, and Carmel Gat was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.

The murders were condemned by some in the Muslim world. Palestinian journalist Abd Al-Bari Fayyad, for example, said the “barbaric and inhumane” treatment of the hostages was contrary to the Islamic shari’a and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. Fayyad said, “In the Quran and the Hadith, there are many documented examples of war prisoners being treated humanely by the Prophet’s Companions, in compliance with [the Prophet’s] instructions. For instance, when it came to food, some of the prisoners recounted that the Muslims had served them the best food they could provide, even better than what they [ate] themselves.”

Netanyahu released a recorded statement, “Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal.” 

President Biden and Secretary Blinken called the Goldberg-Polins to offer their condolences. “I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in a statement praising the Goldberg-Polins for being “courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable.”

Much of Israel reacted with heartbreak and fury. The chairman of the Histadrut labor union announced a general strike, teachers at schools throughout the country also stayed away from their jobs, Ben-Gurion Airport suspended flights for two hours, and tens of thousands of Israelis marched on September 2. Workers were later ordered back to their jobs after the Supreme Court declared the strike was illegal.

The same day, President Biden was asked if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach an agreement to return the remaining 101 hostages and responded, “No.”

Netanyahu held a press conference and said, “Israel will not let this massacre simply pass on by. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for it.” He also apologized: “I told the families, and I repeat it here tonight — I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them back alive.”

The prime minister also reiterated that Israel would not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor despite pressure to do so for the sake of the hostages. “It simply won’t happen,” he said, because it is Hamas’s “pipeline for oxygen and rearmament.”

Biden was “very close” to presenting a final hostage-release proposal. “We’re going to continue to push as hard as we can.”

A day after Netanyahu reiterated that Israel must indefinitely maintain a presence along the Egypt-Gaza border, the White House contradicted him. “The deal itself, including the bridging proposal that we started working with… includes the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas… in phase one… and that includes those areas along and adjacent to that corridor,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. “That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to.”

More pointedly, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. has “made very clear what we believe about the possibility of an ongoing Israeli presence in Gaza — that we [are] opposed to it.”

Focus has been almost exclusively on Netanyahu without much discussion of Hamas’s demands in the negotiation, which include not only withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor but the roughly one-mile buffer zone created near the border to protect the Israeli communities from a repeat of October 7. Hamas also made a new demand to increase the number of Palestinian prisoners, including those with blood on their hands, it wants to be released. While Netanyahu has reportedly expressed some flexibility regarding the size of the Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the buffer zone is non-negotiable.

According to the Jewish Chronicle, one reason Israel is so insistent about keeping troops at the Corridor is that interrogations of a senior Hamas official and documents captured by the IDF indicate Sinwar planned to smuggle himself, other Hamas leaders, and the hostages through the Corridor (where tunnels continue to be found) to Egypt and then to Iran. Israel also doesn’t want to appear to concede the position at the border after the murder of six hostages because it would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and encourage Hamas to kill more hostages to increase the domestic pressure on Netanyahu to fold.

Publicly, U.S. officials continue to say the negotiations are going well, with 90% of the issues resolved. One official told Axios that only two paragraphs of the proposed deal need to be settled—the prisoner exchange and Israeli deployment. Privately, officials have growing doubts that Hamas will accept any deal and will only increase their demands if Israel makes additional compromises. Instead of Israeli concessions, there was more discussion of applying greater pressure on Hamas.

Meanwhile, Hamas continued to use psychological warfare by disseminating videos of hostages. They released videos of four of the six murdered hostages in which they read prepared scripts calling on Israel to stop the war and negotiate their release.

News agencies have often reported contradictory information about the number of hostages. One by AFP on September 2 said 64 hostages remained alive; the Israeli army says 70 others are confirmed dead, of whom 33 bodies are still in Gaza. Only 17 people captured at the Nova festival are believed to be alive; 12 have died, and nine were released. Of the 64 who may still be alive, 57 are Israelis (some have more than one nationality), six are Thai nationals, and one is Nepalese. Of these, 52 are men, 10 are women, and two are children ages one and five (both celebrated birthdays in captivity). Five of the women and six of the men are soldiers. 

Among the dead, 35, including 10 soldiers, were killed before they were taken to Gaza. The same number died inside Gaza, three of whom were mistakenly shot by Israeli soldiers.

The 97 hostages were taken on November 7. Hamas also holds two bodies and two other Israelis who were kidnapped in 2015.

Just before the U.S. planned to present a “take it or leave it” proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas introduced into the negotiations what an American official called a “poison pill.” Hamas reportedly demanded that Israel release 100 more life-term murderers in the first phase than had been agreed upon.

Israel hostage envoy Gal Hirsch told Bloomberg, “I’m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him” after the release of all the hostages and agreement to give up control of Gaza. There was no immediate confirmation of the offer from Netanyahu.

Months after the IDF recovered the bodies of Elia Toledano, Cpl. Nik Beizer, and Sgt. Ron Sherman, the military acknowledged that it was likely they were killed as a “byproduct” of an airstrike on November 10, 2024, targeting the commander of Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade, Ahmed Ghandour, who was hiding in a tunnel. No cause of death was determined, but the suspicion was that they were either suffocated or killed by carbon dioxide poisoning inside a tunnel following a strike.

Khaled Mashal told the New York Times that Hamas would not give up its demands that Israel withdraw from Gaza and end the war.

This was reinforced again on September 19 when Hamas rejected a proposal to end the war, release all the hostages, and allow Sinwar to leave Gaza along with any other Palestinians who wanted to leave with him in exchange for Israel freeing some number of prisoners. The hostage families embraced the proposal, but it was likely to create pushback from the far-right members of the coalition. Later, Israeli negotiators said they were unaware of this offer.

Senior officials in the Biden administration told the Wall Street Journal they did not expect a ceasefire agreement before President Biden’s term ended.

During a meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu was reported to have said, “We estimate that about half of the hostages are alive.” This would mean that instead of the official number of 33 dead, it was likely the figure was closer to 50, which the Wall Street Journal had reported in June. Reacting to the report, the parent of one of the hostages told the Times of Israel the government had given the families information that “there are no more than 30 to 35 hostages” still alive.

Biden administration officials drafted a new ceasefire agreement. Israel expressed reservations; Hamas rejected it and said it would not accept any deal that differed from the one presented by Biden in May. Hamas had objected to that one as well.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “It doesn’t appear that Mr. Sinwar is prepared at all to keep negotiating in good faith, especially after he murdered six hostages in a tunnel, execution style.”

According to CNN, the United States was no longer actively pursuing a ceasefire because neither Hamas nor Israel had the political will to end the conflict.

On the grim first anniversary of the Hamas attack and hostage-taking, another hostage whose body remained in Gaza was declared dead. The IDF said he was killed at the Nova festival. Officially, Israel acknowledged Hamas was holding the bodies of 34 people who were murdered.

Israeli security officials reportedly told Netanyahu, “The more time that passes, there’s less and less intelligence on the hostages, and that’s very worrying.” He was also told the conditions in which the hostages were held had significantly deteriorated.

While the IDF has been unsuccessful in locating the remaining Israeli hostages, soldiers freed a 21-year-old Yazidi woman who had been kidnapped and trafficked by ISIS as a child and held captive by Hamas for years.

Defense Minister Gallant updated hostage families regarding negotiations on October 14, 2024. “There’s stagnation, and I don’t see progress right now in this period, I’m very sorry to say,” he said. “There’s been a hardening on the part of Hamas,” Gallant added, noting that Sinwar was hoping “something will happen that will serve them.”

New Offers, Same Response

Following the killing of Sinwar on October 16, hope was renewed for an agreement. One problem was that he had been the negotiator, and it was unclear who else could make a deal. Since he was not found with any hostages, Israel did not know who was holding them or where they were. Talks were to resume, but Hamas officials immediately responded that their conditions had not changed.

To encourage Gazans to act on their own, Israeli planes dropped leaflets that said, “Whoever drops the weapon and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace.” In addition, the former CEO of SodaStream offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who returned a live hostage to Israel. Netanyahu later announced that Israel would pay $5 million for the release of each hostage and safe passed to a third country.

Egypt proposed a two-day ceasefire for the release of four hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Hamas insisted it had not changed its conditions of a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and end of the war.

Meanwhile, the confirmed number of dead hostages was increased to 37.

Speaking to reporters outside the UN Security Council on November 6, 2024, Mia Schem recalled her horrific experience. “For 50 days, I was kept alone, suffering from an unbearable pain in my hand without any treatment. A Hamas terrorist sat in front of me in a dark room with a gun pointed at my head. Not a single humanitarian agency saw me or treated me even as my arm got worse.  Where was the Red Cross? Where was the UN demanding that we have access to us?”

Negotiators remained pessimistic about a deal. “There is a clear understanding within the defense establishment that the hostages will not be returned unless the war in Gaza ends, and right now, there is no willingness from the government to end the war, said a member of the negotiating team.”

In November, families of Americans killed, injured, or who suffered mental anguish on October 7 sued Iran. “Hard, incontrovertible evidence of who funded Hamas is now becoming available in the form of documents, bank records and the like, and we intend to hold those parties accountable, in the courts of the United States or elsewhere, for however long it takes,” their attorneys said.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in talks and the recalcitrance of Hamas, Qatar said it was walking away from efforts to mediate an end to the war. Senior members of Hamas based in Qatar were also said to be expelled. They relocated to Turkey.

On December 2, 2024, the IDF confirmed that Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, a 21-year-old lone soldier from New York, was killed in the October 7, 2023, assault, and his body remains held hostage in Gaza. Neutra, a tank platoon commander in the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade, was stationed near Nahal Oz when his tank was attacked by Hamas, resulting in the abduction of its four-person crew. While the deaths of two crewmates were confirmed earlier, Neutra’s death was declared based on new intelligence, with one crew member’s fate still uncertain. Prime Minister  Netanyahu vowed to recover Neutra’s body for a Jewish burial, praising him as a Zionist and a leader. Raised in Long Island, Neutra postponed college plans to join the IDF after a gap year in Israel. His family, who last spoke to him on October 6, 2023, mourns his loss alongside ongoing efforts to recover all hostages and bodies from Hamas captivity.

U.S. President Joe Biden expressed heartbreak, calling Neutra a hero who risked his life to save others and vowing to work tirelessly to return his body. Numerous U.S. leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, extended their condolences and highlighted Neutra’s valor and his family’s resilience.

On the same day, President-elect Donald Trump condemned the continued captivity of the hostages, calling it violent, inhumane, and a violation of global norms. “Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

On December 5, Israel said it had recovered the body of Itay Svirsky, whom the IDF said was murdered by Hamas four months after being taken. The military also said that the six hostages found dead in a tunnel were probably killed after an airstrike hit nearby. “According to the most plausible scenario, the terrorists shot the hostages close to the time of the strike,” the Israeli military said. “However, it is also possible that the hostages were shot by other terrorists postmortem; it is even possible that the hostages were killed prior to the strike in the area.” The hostages and their captors could have died from the gases released after the bombs exploded.

“Even if the bullets of the terrorists are what killed them in practice, they would have died from carbon monoxide poisoning. You can’t separate between the bombing and the reason for their death,” said Yuval Buchshtab, the brother of one of the hostages. “Hostages will continue to die as long as there are hostages and there is fighting going on there.”

Of the 251 captured on October 7, only 63 hostages are believed to be alive, including four Americans. Kfir Bibas, 1, and his brother Ariel, 5. Hamas is holding the bodies of 33 hostages, including three Americans.

The collapse of the regime in Syria, combined with the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompted new momentum for negotiating a hostage release. Israel and its supporters had called on Qatar to expel Hamas members from the country. Finally, in October, it did; however, Trump aides asked Qatar to recall them to revive hostage talks in the hope of resolving the issue before Trump’s inauguration.

Amid media reports that a hostage deal could be reached before the end of the year, Trump and Netanyahu spoke on December 14. Trump repeated his “hell to pay” threat regarding the release of the hostages. 

“It was a very friendly, very warm and very important conversation,” Netanyahu said. “We discussed the need to complete Israel’s victory, and we also spoke at length about the efforts we are making to free our hostages.”

On December 18, 2024, Michael Levy, brother of Israeli hostage Or Levy, delivered an address to the UN Security Council—the first time a hostage’s family member spoke in an official session since the war began. Or Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where his wife was killed, leaving their 3-year-old son, Almog, behind. Michael criticized the Council’s inaction, urging them to act and prevent Almog from losing both parents. He described the daily anguish of not knowing his brother’s fate for 439 days and called for the immediate release of all hostages. The session, led by U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, marked a significant moment following efforts from hostage families and Israeli officials.

Even as the press reported on new optimism for a deal, the talks remained deadlocked over several issues, including which prisoners would be exchanged and Hamas’s refusal to provide the names of the remaining hostages. Several hostage families said they received signs of life of their loved ones, but officials said no deal could be reached without a list of all the living hostages. Negotiators also complained that Mohammed Sinwar, who took over leading Hamas after his brother Yahya was killed, has consistently misled mediators, stonewalling requests for hostage lists and withdrawing from previously reached agreements.

At a press conference on January 7, 2025, President-elect Trump reiterated his earlier warning: “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 and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.” He also said that he had spoken to the relatives of hostages who had been killed, asking for his help in recovering their bodies.

Trump’s envoy to the hostage negotiations, Steven Witkoff, said, “I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.” Witkoff was due to fly afterward to Doha to participate in the talks.

Meanwhile, the IDF recovered the body of another dead hostage from a tunnel in Rafah. Yosef AlZayadni, 53, was kidnapped with three of his children. Two were released in the November hostage exchange. Soldiers found evidence the third may have been killed with his father.

AlZayadni was a Bedouin with 19 children who had worked at the dairy at Kibbutz Holit for 17 years.

It was believed that 61 hostages, including three Americans, remained alive in Gaza after 460 days. Another 73 of the hostages were killed, and Hamas held the bodies of 34 (four Americans) of those.

Ceasefire and Hostage Deal Reached

On January 15, 2025, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement to pause the conflict in Gaza and establish a framework for the phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. The framework will begin to be implemented on January 19, 2025. It is based on the three-phase plan outlined by President Biden.

The deal includes the following key components: 

Hamas will release 33 hostages during the first six weeks, including women, children, individuals over 50, and hostages Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who were held captive by Hamas before October 7, 2023. The remaining hostages, including soldiers, will be released in a subsequent phase. Israel, in turn, will release Palestinian prisoners in exchange, with 30 prisoners released for each civilian hostage and 50 for each soldier.

Israel will gradually withdraw its forces from Gaza, completing the process by the 50th day of the agreement. However, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office denied reports of a complete withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor. 

The first phase will include a temporary ceasefire, with a permanent ceasefire planned for the second phase. The third phase focuses on Gaza’s reconstruction, which Egypt, Qatar, and the UN will oversee. Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. will also monitor the implementation of the entire agreement to ensure compliance.

The deal was finalized in Doha after a year of negotiations. The Israeli cabinet will meet to approve the agreement and the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released. Meanwhile, the Israeli negotiation team will remain in Doha to finalize the details. 

The implications of the Israel-Hamas agreement are significant and controversial, raising questions about its long-term impact on the region and the risks involved.

One critical concern is the release of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been convicted of violent crimes, including those serving multiple life sentences for attacks that claimed civilian lives. The inclusion of individuals with “blood on their hands” could be perceived as undermining justice for victims and their families, potentially encouraging further acts of terror by signaling that such actions can lead to eventual freedom through negotiations.

Another issue is the lack of clarity on the status of hostages. Hamas has not provided comprehensive information about which hostages are alive, leaving families in a state of uncertainty and creating the possibility that some hostages included in the deal may already have been killed. This lack of transparency undermines trust in the agreement and raises questions about Hamas’s commitment to sincerity.

The deal also risks bolstering Hamas’s position in Gaza. The prisoner exchange, coupled with the planned reconstruction of Gaza, could strengthen Hamas both politically and militarily. The group may claim credit for securing prisoner releases and improving living conditions, solidifying its hold on the population. This outcome could jeopardize efforts to weaken Hamas and prevent Gaza from becoming a hub for future terrorist activity.

While Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. promised international oversight, it remained uncertain whether these guarantees would ensure compliance and prevent future escalations by Hamas. The agreement’s success depends heavily on the ability of these actors to maintain pressure on Hamas and facilitate a reconstruction process that benefits the civilian population rather than Hamas’s leadership.

Most world leaders praised the deal. Iran declared it a victory for the Palestinians. “The end of the war and the imposition of a ceasefire… is a clear victory and a great victory for Palestine and a bigger defeat for the monstrous Zionist regime,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement.

Similarly, a Houthi spokesman said, “We salute Gaza’s legendary and historic resilience in the face of Israel’s fiercest aggression against the oppressed Palestinian people.”

On January 19, 2025, hours before the ceasefire was set to take effect, a special operation conducted by the Shin Bet and the IDF, the body of Golani soldier Oron Shaul was recovered from Gaza to Israel. Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin fell during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, and their bodies have been held captive by Hamas ever since.

On the same day, three women—Doron Steinbrecher (31), Emily Damari (28), and Romi Gonen (24)—who had been held captive by Hamas since October 7, 2023, were freed following a delayed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The delay was caused by Hamas’s failure to provide the names of the hostages scheduled for release on time. 

From left to right: Doron Steinbrecher,
Emily Damari, and Romi Gonen. 

Freed Female Hostages Delivered to IDF:
Footage Shows Handover from Red Cross en Route to Israel

Hamas turned the release into a propaganda extravaganza. Masked terrorists in uniform with guns delivered and surrounded the hostages. Hundreds of civilians lined the streets, celebrating and shouting Allahu Akbar to add to the dehumanization of the women even at the end of their ordeal. They were given gift bags that included photos from the terrorists of their time in captivity. They were forced to sign certificates of release and pose with them and the terrorists before being handed to representatives of the Red Cross, who also signed the documents. The women said they were “scared to death” during the transfer. 

The Price of Freedom

Israel had to pay a heavy price for the release of the hostages. In this first exchange, 90 Palestinians, most of them women, were released. Of those, 78 prisoners were released in the West Bank, while 12 were released in eastern Jerusalem. If the entire agreement is fulfilled, Israel is expected to release some 3,000 prisoners, including many mass murderers. If history is a guide, most are likely to return to terrorism. Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar told Israel’s Security Cabinet that “82% of those released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 returned to terrorism,” and that 15% of them carried out attacks themselves after their release, or planned the attacks.

On the day of his inauguration, President Trump brought the families of Israeli hostages on stage during his victory celebration. “The work begins. We won, but now we have to bring them home,” he said of the remaining hostages. 

“Some of the folks here are former hostages. Not a good situation. The three young ladies who came home - they were hurt. One had her fingers blown off. She was trying to defend herself from a bullet, can you believe this? A bullet,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s a disgrace. We never stopped praying for you. We’re so glad you’re reunited with your friends and families.”

“Some just want us to bring home their son’s body. It should have never happened. Three years, ridiculous. Shouldn’t have happened. Wouldn’t have happened,” he said before restating his frequent claim that October 7 would not have occurred had he been president.

At the White House, Trump was asked if he was confident that the ceasefire would last. “I’m not confident,” Trump replied. “It’s not our war. It’s their war. I’m not confident, but they’re very weakened on the other side.”

Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, assured Israelis that they would have the president’s support “in doing what it has to do” if Hamas violates the agreement.

Witkoff explained the Trump administration “had nothing to do with the mathematics behind the prisoner release and the hostage release.” The agreement terms were set “in the so-called May 27th protocol that was agreed to by Hamas, by the Israelis, and monitored by the United States under the Biden administration.” He said, “Our job was to speed up the process because it felt like it had bogged down.”

Witkoff also expressed a willingness to have a dialogue with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar. “Oh my gosh, Qatar was enormously helpful in this [ceasefire agreement]. Sheikh Mohammed [bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister], his communication skills with Hamas were indispensable here.” 

On January 24, 2025, Hamas announced that four female Israeli hostages, Karina Ariev (20), Daniella Gilboa (20), Naama Levy (20), and Liri Albag (19), would be released the following day after 477 days in captivity in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. All four were young soldiers captured during attacks on the Nahal Oz base, with some appearing in Hamas-released videos during their captivity. Three additional female hostages, Arbel Yehud (29), Shiri Bibas (33), and Agam Berger (21), remain in captivity. While Yehud, a civilian, was supposed to be released as part of the deal, Hamas violated the principles of the ceasefire and hostage agreement, delaying her release despite Israel’s insistence on her inclusion. Israel has protested this violation to mediators but has agreed to accept the four hostages Hamas plans to release.

On January 25, 2025, Hamas released four female soldier hostages after parading them on a propaganda stage in Gaza.

In return, Israel freed 200 Palestinian prisoners; of these, 121 were sentenced to life imprisonment, and 79 are considered veterans. 70 were deported to Egypt, 114 were released to the Judea and Samaria region, and 16 to the Gaza Strip. As a result of Hamas violating the terms of the deal by not releasing civilian hostage Arbel Yehud, Israel delayed the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza. It did not withdraw from part of the Netzarim Corridor as scheduled. Hamas officials have stated that Yehud is alive and will be released the following week, but Israel demanded proof of life and pushed for a sooner release. The IDF has reiterated its warning to Palestinians against returning to northern Gaza via the Netzarim Corridor and is prepared to remain in the area until further notice. Hamas did not announce by midnight how many of the 26 hostages who are yet to be released in phase one of the deal are still alive, therefore violating the agreement once again.

From top left to bottom right: Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag,
Karina Ariev and Naama Levy after their release

Released Hostage Karina Ariev’s Message After Her Release

On January 26, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an agreement with Hamas to release three hostages—civilian Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger, and a third unidentified individual—on January 30, with three additional hostages scheduled for release on February 1. Hamas also provided a document clarifying the status of other hostages included in the first stage of the ceasefire deal. In return, Israel permited the movement of Gazans to the northern part of the Strip starting January 30. Netanyahu’s office emphasized that the agreement followed “strong and determined negotiations” and warned against any deal breaches. Hebrew media reports, citing senior Israeli officials, reveal that Hamas provided a list confirming the total number of hostages alive without specifying individual statuses. The figure aligns with Israeli intelligence, with no discrepancies. Israel estimates that 25 of the 33 hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire are alive, with seven already freed, leaving 18 alive and eight deceased among the remaining 26.

On January 27, 2025, Islamic Jihad released a propaganda video with signs of life from hostage Arbel Yehud.

On January 30, 2025, eight hostages were released from Gaza after 482 days in captivity. The released hostages included three Israelis, Agam Berger (20), Arbel Yehud (29), and Gadi Moses (80), and five Thai nationals. Agam Berger, the last female soldier in captivity, was held by Hamas and was released in northern Gaza after being paraded on the Hamas stage, similar to her fellow soldiers released the week prior. Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes, both civilians, were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and were released in southern Gaza amidst chaotic conditions, where they had to walk a few hundred feet through a violent mob. The five Thai nationals were also released during this exchange. Four different terrorist organizations participated in the chaotic transfer: Hamas, PIJ, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement. 

In response, the Israel Prison Service was ordered to halt the release of Palestinian prisoners. Some prisoners had already boarded buses before the last-minute directive from Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who demanded that mediators ensure the safe exit of hostages before any further prisoner releases. After reaching agreements with the mediators, the prisoner release was resumed later that day. Israel is expected to free 110 Palestinian prisoners; of these, 33 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Some released prisoners will be deported, while others will be transferred to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Top: Agam Berger reunites with her parents
Bottom: Gadi Moses and Arbel Yehud,
both Nir Oz residents, reunite prior to their release

All Former Female Soldier Hostages Freed and Reunited in Israeli Hospital

On January 30, 2025, in his first in-depth interview since taking office, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed doubts about fully implementing the hostage and ceasefire agreement, emphasizing that Hamas remains the main issue. Rubio acknowledged that the ceasefire was crucial for hostage releases but came at a high cost. He highlighted the challenge of governing Gaza afterward. Rubio also criticized the previous administration, noting internal tensions between the State Department and the National Security Council over support for Israel after October 7, which he said reflected divisions within the Democratic Party.

On February 1, 2025, Hamas released three hostages – American-Israeli Keith Siegel, Yarden Bibas, and Ofer Kalderon – after they had been held for 484 days. Bibas and Kalderon were released in Khan Yunis, while Siegel was released later at the Gaza Port. Unlike previous weeks, there were fewer Palestinian civilians present at the sites of the releases, as shown in the footage. Bibas, Kalderon, and Siegel were reunited with their families, some former hostages. Kalderon’s children and Siegel’s wife were also kidnapped but were freed in earlier rounds. However, Bibas’s wife and two children remain in Gaza, and there is no precise information regarding their fate.

In exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, among them 18 serving life sentences. Per the ceasefire agreement, Israel also opened the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza for the first time since May to allow the exit of Palestinian patients to Egypt to receive medical treatment.

From left to right: Yarden Bibas, Ofer Kalderon, Keith Siegel

In a February 4, 2025, interview with Israeli Channel 12 News, Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler emphasized that President Trump is adamant about securing the release of all hostages, stating that their freedom is a critical priority. When pressed on Trump’s threats of what “or else” means, Boehler suggested that Trump’s history of decisively acting against terrorist organizations, such as his recent attack on ISIS, indicates a firm stance. He dismissed the notion that the goal of defeating Hamas contradicts efforts to free hostages, arguing that both objectives align with the broader strategy of combating terrorism. In a separate interview the same day, Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus asserted that Trump sought to restore peace through strength, pointing to the return of hostages. She confirmed Trump’s commitment to maintaining a ceasefire and securing the release of the remainder of the hostages in Gaza.

Negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire and hostage release began on February 5, 2025, following the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump. It was not immediately clear if Trump’s comments after meeting with Netanyahu in Washington on February 4 about the U.S. taking control of Gaza and relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan would impact the talks.

Meanwhile, former Defense Minister Gallant said a ceasefire could have been arranged months earlier under similar terms, which would have saved some hostages, and fewer Palestinian murderers would have been released.

On February 8, 2025, after being held captive for 491 days, Hamas released Or Levy (34), Eli Sharabi (52), and Ohad Ben Ami (56). They were paraded on a Deir al-Balah Hamas propaganda stage and forced to take part in a mock interview for the terrorist organization. The German, British, and U.S. ambassadors in Israel condemned Hamas’s staged “ceremony” for the released hostages. German Ambassador Steffen Seibert called it “almost unbearable” to see the emaciated hostages forced into a propaganda interview, labeling it another horrific crime. British Ambassador Simon Walters described the release as a “grotesque spectacle,” expressing relief for the hostages’ return but condemning Hamas’s display and stressing the urgency of freeing all captives. U.S. Acting Ambassador Stephanie Hallett highlighted the hostages’ resilience after 491 days in captivity and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to securing the release of all remaining hostages.

From left to right: Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami

After seeing the emaciated Israeli men released by Hamas, Trump said they “looked like Holocaust survivors” and warned, “At some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.” 

The hostages’ appearance was despite Hamas adopting an “accelerated rehabilitation” process shortly before their release to create the illusion of humane treatment. This involves providing nutritious food and stimulants to ensure the hostages appear healthy and energetic upon returning to Israel. However, testimonies from released hostages reveal starkly different experiences, including drinking seawater, eating minimal food like bread and rice, and enduring harsh conditions such as confinement in underground tunnels and cages. These pre-release measures are seen as part of Hamas’s strategy to manipulate public perception regarding their treatment of captives.

For the released hostages, the horror did not end as they learned of the fate of their loved ones. Levy’s wife, Inbal, was murdered during a Hamas attack on civilians hiding in a shelter in Re’im, while Or was kidnapped. After returning from captivity, Levy revealed that he endured severe starvation and harsh conditions, an intentional policy ordered by Yahya Sinwar. He was held underground without daylight, barefoot, hungry, and in constant fear. His captors once acknowledged that his family was fighting for him, mentioning that his brother Michael had spoken on his behalf at the UN Security Council. Levy was finally freed and reunited with his 3-year-old son, Almog, only to learn the devastating truth that his wife, Einav, had been murdered in the same shelter where they had taken refuge. While in captivity, he had no way of confirming her fate, though he had suspected the worst.

Released hostage Or Levy reunites with his son, Almog (3)

Sharabi’s brother, Yossi, was murdered by Hamas while in captivity, and his wife and two daughters were murdered on October 7, 2023. During his release, Sharabi was aware of his brother’s death but was not aware of his immediate family’s fate. Ben Ami’s wife was released during the temporary ceasefire in November 2023.

In return, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, including 18 serving life sentences, 54 with heavy sentences, and 111 from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7. Among the prominent prisoners set for release are one who received a 27-year sentence, another who planned a kidnapping, and the founder of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, responsible for a double suicide bombing in Beersheba. Before their release, the prisoners will be shown documentation of the destruction in Gaza, a new protocol introduced by Israel.

Israel Withdraws From Netzarim Corridor

By February 9, 2025, Israeli forces had fully withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, allowing free movement along the Salah a-Din Road. The corridor, created during Israel’s ground offensive in late 2023 to block Palestinian movement back to northern Gaza, had been expanded into a fortified buffer zone with military outposts and infrastructure. This withdrawal marks a significant shift in control over the area, enabling displaced Palestinians to return north by vehicle for the first time since the conflict began.

On February 10, 2025, Hamas announced a delay in the next release of Israeli hostages due to Israel’s alleged failure to meet the terms of the agreement, the non-return of the displaced persons, continued attacks, and the failure to supply the agreed-upon equipment. However, Hamas left the door open for the release to proceed if Israel complied with its terms. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu advanced a security cabinet meeting while Defense Minister Israel Katz placed the military on high alert. The delay raised concerns about the future of the agreement. Mediators warned of a potential deal breakdown, especially after former U.S. President Trump suggested relocating Gaza’s residents. Meanwhile, Israeli negotiators returned from Qatar, having only discussed the current ceasefire phase rather than a potential next stage. Families of the hostages urged mediators to maintain the agreement, emphasizing the dire conditions of those recently freed.

On February 11, 2025, Israeli authorities confirmed that Shlomo Mantzur, the oldest hostage still held in Gaza, was killed during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive. His death was determined by experts based on intelligence gathered in recent months. Meanwhile, the families of twin hostages Ziv and Gali Berman and another hostage, Omri Miran, reported receiving signs of life, though concerns remain for their safety.

On the same day, the Israeli Security Cabinet met to discuss Hamas’s announcement of “pausing the release of hostages” and President Trump’s ultimatum. Despite the unanimous cabinet support for Trump’s demand, Israel opted to continue the deal if Hamas released the three scheduled hostages on schedule, maintaining humanitarian aid and prisoner exchanges. Conflicting messages released later mentioned the release of all hostages, aligning with Trump’s ultimatum but leaving room for interpretation, suggesting it could refer to all hostages slated for release on Saturday or all living hostages in the first phase of a deal. Israel deliberately kept its stance ambiguous, preparing for military escalation if Hamas failed to comply. Prime Minister Netanyahu reinforced troops in and around Gaza in anticipation of any scenario. The cabinet also reviewed Hamas’s accusations of Israeli violations and the stalled negotiations and addressed Israel’s conditions for the next phase of the deal.

Only 16 of the 33 due to be turned over to Israel in the first phase had returned home. Trump said that the ceasefire should be canceled if all the hostages were not released by 12 p.m. on February 15. He added, “Let all hell break loose.” 

Following up on Trump’s declaration, Netanyahu announced on February 11 that the ceasefire would end if the hostages were not released by the deadline. He did not specify the number of captives, but other officials said the demand was for all the hostages. Meanwhile, Israeli security chiefs reportedly were pushing the prime minister to complete phase one and get out as many hostages as possible.

As with Trump’s other warnings, it was unclear what he would or could do to force Hamas to free all the hostages. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said, “The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters.”

On February 13, 2025, Hamas reaffirmed its commitment to the Gaza ceasefire and scheduled hostage release, conditioning future releases on continued humanitarian aid. While reports suggested Israel agreed to allow heavy equipment into Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office denied this. Israeli officials emphasized that if Hamas fails to release hostages by February 15, military operations will resume. Meanwhile, U.S. leaders, including President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio, urged Hamas to comply, warning of severe consequences. Egyptian mediation has reportedly brought Hamas and Israel closer to resolving aid-related disputes, with record-high humanitarian deliveries entering Gaza, exceeding Israel’s initial commitment.

In addition to the three hostages due to be released on February 15, mediators were working to accelerate the release of the remaining six living captives following an appeal by Israel as a result of the malnourishment and abuse of the previous group of hostages. Israel also asked to expand the first phase of the deal beyond the agreed 33 hostages, though Hamas gave no indication it would agree.

Defense Minister Katz warned that if the hostages were not released, “The new Gaza war will be different in its intensity from the one that preceded the ceasefire, and won’t end without Hamas’s defeat and the release of all the hostages.”

After a lot of blustering from all sides, by Thursday, Hamas seemed to be backing down from its threats, though it did launch a rocket that landed inside Gaza, killing a Palestinian teenager. Israel indicated it would hold its fire if Hamas released the three hostages previously agreed to be part of phase one of the ceasefire agreement. It wasn’t clear why Netanyahu was willing to accept so few after Trump intimated he expected all hostages to be released.

The families of 11 of the hostages received proof of life based on testimony from those recently released from captivity.

On February 14, 2025, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi apologized to the four released female surveillance soldiers for their warnings about Hamas activity before the October 7, 2023, attack being ignored and for their prolonged captivity. The soldiers had repeatedly reported suspicious activity along the Gaza border, but their concerns were dismissed. Halevi acknowledged their efforts, called them “amazing and commendable,” and assured them the military would thoroughly investigate the failures of October 7. The meeting also addressed their experiences in captivity.

From left to right: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi,
Naama Levi, Agam Berger, Liri Elbag, Karina Ariev

On February 11, Trump warned that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas did not release “all” the Israeli hostages by 12:00 p.m. on February 15. “If all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel” the ceasefire, he said. It was unclear if he meant noon or midnight or was referring to U.S. or Israeli time.

Netanyahu echoed the president’s threat. “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated,” he said.

The caution appeared to lead Hamas to retract its threat of suspending the planned release of three more hostages. Despite the president’s firm position that all hostages should be freed, Israel chose not to press further—likely due to concerns about jeopardizing the fragile ceasefire. Instead, they accepted the release of Sagui Dekel-Chen (36), Sasha Troufanov (29), and Yair Horn (46), who had been held captive for 498 days. Trump expressed his support for whatever decision Israel made regarding its response to the deadline.

The hostages were being paraded on a Khan Younis stage and were forced to take part in a mock interview for the terrorist organization. The Red Cross again did nothing to prevent this propaganda exercise.

Dekel-Chen, an American citizen, was abducted while his wife was taken hostage from his home in Nir Oz while his wife Avital – then seven months pregnant, hid with the couple’s two young daughters in the saferoom. Avital and the girls remained safe, and the new baby, Shahar-Mazal, was born while her father was being held in Gaza. Dekel-Chen didn’t know his family survived. His captors informed him that his daughter was born and gave him earrings for his wife, but he did not believe them and confirmed this with IDF representatives upon his release. 

Troufanov’s father was murdered while his grandmother, mother, and girlfriend were abducted with him. Sasha was shot in both of his legs but managed to survive. The women were later freed in the November 2023 deal, but Sasha remained in the hands of his captors from the Islamic Jihad with no knowledge of the fate of his father. As a Russian citizen, Troufanov was also released in part as a result of Russian pressure on Hamas.

Horn was abducted along with his younger brother Eitan, who was not part of the first phase of the hostage deal and remained in Gaza. Horn said his brother Eitan was with him in captivity. Horn received a “gift” from Hamas - an hourglass with a picture of Einav Zangauker and her kidnapped son. She said, “It’s before my eyes, the time is counting down.”

From left to right: Horn reunites with his mother;
Dekel-Chen with his wife, Troufanov, during his release

In exchange, Israel released 369 prisoners, including 36 serving life sentences and another 333 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7.

While Netanyahu continued to talk about resuming the war and believed he had Trump’s support, Witkoff made clear that the president expected Israel to keep the ceasefire and complete the next phase of the agreement. “It is just a little bit more intricate and complicated in terms of how we bring the two sides together on this because Phase 2 contemplates an end of the war,” he said, “but it also contemplates Hamas not being involved in the government and being gone from Gaza. So we’ve got to square those two things.”

On February 19, 2025, Hamas proposed releasing all remaining hostages after the completion of the first phase of the deal in a single batch during the second phase of the Gaza truce rather than in stages. A senior Hamas official stated that this move demonstrates their seriousness and readiness to advance toward a lasting ceasefire. However, he did not specify how many hostages remain in captivity. In return, Hamas is expected to refuse the demilitarization of Gaza and to be able to have a role governing Gaza, terms that Israel is expected to reject. 

Heartbreak for the Bibas Family

On February 20, 2025, Hamas released what it declared to be four slain hostages: the bodies of Shiri Silberman Bibas (32) and her two young children, Ariel (4) and Kfir (<1), and the body of Oded Lifshitz (84), a journalist and peace activist who helped found Kibbutz Nir Oz. Despite Hamas’s claim in November 2023 that the Bibas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Israel had not confirmed this and considered it to be propaganda. The caskets of the four have been delivered to the Red Cross after being paraded across a Khan Yunis stage, showing a demonizing image of Prime Minister Netanyahu and blaming Israel for their killing. They placed stickers on their coffins stating “arrested” on October 7. The Red Cross refused to take part in Hamas’s “ceremony,” with the terror group initially threatening not to transfer the slain hostages. In response, Israel protested the “ceremony” to the mediators, and it received international condemnation. Once delivered to the IDF by the Red Cross, they were wrapped with Israeli flags, and the Military Rabbinate chief, Brigadier-General Rabbi Eyal Krim, recited Psalm 83. Military officers then saluted the coffins of the slain hostages and transported the coffins to Israeli vehicles. 

After they arrived in Israel, the bodies were delivered to the Israeli forensic institute to confirm that the bodies were indeed of the Bibas family and Lifshitz. Lifshitz’s body was later identified, and so were Ariel and Kfir Bibas. However, the remains were not Shiri Bibas’s, and no match was found for any other abductee. Israel protested to the mediators that it was a “very serious” violation of the deal and demanded that Hamas return Shiri along with the rest of the hostages. In response, the terror group stated it would investigate the matter, suggesting a possible mix-up. Hamas demanded Israel return the Palestinian woman’s body mistakenly handed over and reiterated its alleged commitment to the ceasefire-hostage deal, insisting it has no interest in holding on to hostage remains.

On February 21, 2025, Adam Boehler, President Trump’s envoy for hostage affairs, condemned Hamas’s actions as “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the ceasefire after it was revealed that remains believed to be Shiri Bibas’s were those of a Gazan woman. He warned Hamas to release all hostages or face “total annihilation” and stated that Israel had informed senior U.S. officials in advance that the remains were misidentified. Boehler criticized Hamas’s apparent attempt to deceive Israel with a misidentified body.

On the same day, Hamas handed over the possible remains of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross, which then informed Israel and transferred them to Israeli authorities. The convoy arrived at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, where forensic teams made the identification process. Kibbutz Nir Oz announced an hour after the arrival of the remains that Bibas had been murdered in Hamas captivity. The Israeli forensic institute later confirmed that her body was identified.

From left to right: Ariel, Shiri and Kfir Bibas; Oded Lifshitz

The coffins of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz are retrieved by IDF personnel

On February 22, 2025, Hamas released six hostages: Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, two Israeli citizens held by Hamas since entering Gaza voluntarily in 2014 and 2015, respectively; and Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen, were kidnapped during the October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham were released in Rafah. In contrast, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen were released from the Nuseirat refugee camp. All five were paraded on Hamas propaganda stages and were forced to wave to the crowds. 

Hamas separately released Hisham al-Sayed in Gaza City without a ceremony. A Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the separate release was allegedly conducted “out of respect for his family and because of his Palestinian roots.” 

Hamas forced unreleased hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David to witness the release ceremony of Wenkert, Shem Tov, and Cohen. In a video released by the terror group, Guy and Evyatar are seen addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a Hamas vehicle, expressing their desire for the situation to end. 

From left to right: Row 1 - Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham;
Row 2 - Omer Shem-Tov, Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed

The same day, Prime Minister Netanyahu held security consultations “based on the goal of returning all of our hostages — the living and the dead.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Hamas’s treatment of hostages, citing the brutal murder of the Bibas family as further evidence of their savagery. He emphasized that all hostages must be released immediately or Hamas would face destruction. During his CPAC address, President Trump emphasized the importance of returning the bodies of deceased hostages to their families, arguing that this act is just as vital as rescuing the living, and underscored the necessity of bringing the hostages home.

First Phase of Deal Concludes

In return for the six hostages, Israel was supposed to release 602 Palestinians, among them 445 detainees and 157 prisoners, including 50 convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and 60 with lengthy sentences, with 108 due to be deported. However, Israel has indefinitely delayed the release of the Palestinian prisoners, citing repeated violations by the terror group, including propaganda ceremonies and the mistreatment of hostages. While Israel has agreed to release four more bodies on February 27, 2025, as part of the deal’s first stage, no further hostage releases have been arranged, casting doubt on the agreement’s future. Hamas condemned Israel’s decision, rejecting claims that the hostages’ handover ceremonies are “humiliating” and accusing Israel of using this as a pretext to avoid its ceasefire obligations. Hamas also stated it would not engage in talks with Israel until the prisoners are released from prison.

On February 23, 2025, the White House announced its support for Israel’s decision to delay the release of the prisoners, citing Hamas’s “barbaric treatment” of Israeli hostages. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes called the delay an “appropriate response” and stated that President Donald Trump is prepared to back Israel in any course of action it chooses regarding Hamas.

In a CNN interview, U.S. Envoy for Middle East Peace Steven Witkoff discussed his upcoming trip to the region, focusing on advancing phase two of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas and securing the release of American hostage Edan Alexander. He stated that phase two of the deal would include securing a permanent ceasefire, ending all violence, and ensuring Hamas does not return to power in Gaza. 

Israel considered extending the current phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal after its 42-day period ends. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “We do not rule out an extension of the temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of additional hostages.” This extension would reportedly involve the release of four male hostages, including fathers and critically wounded individuals, in exchange for prolonging the ceasefire during Ramadan. Israeli officials indicated that Hamas is currently interested in continuing the deal, as it benefits them by allowing more convoys and heavy equipment to enter Gaza, and they do not want to be seen as the party responsible for causing the deal’s collapse. 

Backed by the United States, Israel announced on February 24 it would delay releasing Palestinian prisoners until more Israeli hostages were freed and demanded the return of the bodies of four slain hostages without a “ceremony” on the same day. Hamas expressed a willingness to comply to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners. However, a Hamas spokesperson later insisted that moving to the next phase of the deal is “illogical” without further prisoner releases. Hamas demands the release of the seventh batch of prisoners before negotiations on the next stage can proceed.

Hostage deal negotiations on phase two remained stalled, with Israeli officials confirming that while inquiries and ideas have been raised, no real negotiations have occurred. Mediators have engaged in discussions, but Hamas has not formally participated. Talks on releasing living hostages have also seen no progress. Meanwhile, Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, canceled his planned visit to Israel, with reports suggesting that no trip would occur before next week.

On February 26, 2025, four slain hostages were released by Hamas. The four are Ohad Yahalomi (49), Tsahi Idan (49), Itzik Elgarat (69), and Shlomo Mantzur (85). All four were kidnapped on October 7, 2023. They were transferred without a “ceremony” to Egypt, which delivered the bodies to the Red Cross for transport to the IDF at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The IDF then conducted a memorial ceremony. Unlike previous exchanges, the hostages’ identification was conducted on-site. Forensic Institute and crime scene investigators then transferred the coffins to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

From left to right: Row 1 - Tsahi Idan and Ohad Yahalomi;
Row 2 - Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mantzur

Yahalomi, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was taken after a gun battle with terrorists. Idan was abducted from his Kibbutz Nahal Oz home after his daughter was killed. Itzik Elgarat, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was injured and kidnapped during an attack on his home. Mantzur, from Kibbutz Kissufim, was killed during the October 7 attack, and his body was taken to Gaza. 

President Trump posted, “I’m very disappointed...four bodies came in today...We got a lot of hostages back, but it’s very sad what happened to those people...This is a vicious group of people, and Israel’s going to have to decide what they’re doing.”

In exchange for the four slain hostages, Israel released a total of 620 Palestinians. This group included 445 detainees and 175 prisoners, of whom 71 are serving life sentences, and 60 are serving lengthy sentences. 97 prisoners are facing deportation. The list comprises both Palestinians who were previously slated for release and an additional 18 prisoners.

This formally concluded the first phase of the hostage and ceasefire deal. 

Hamas has rejected extending the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal, insisting on an immediate transition to the second phase as initially agreed, according to Egyptian sources. While Israel sought a 42-day extension to secure the release of additional hostages, including fathers and critically wounded individuals, Hamas reiterated its commitment to the deal’s full implementation. It urged mediators to pressure Israel to proceed without delay. A senior Hamas official also stated that the group’s demand for Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor remains unchanged. With the first phase expiring on March 1, failure to reach an agreement could mean a return to war.

The remaining hostages are all men under 50, and the liberation of each one will likely require Israel to release a larger number of Palestinian prisoners per hostage. Hamas is expected to hold some soldiers until the last exchange, when Israel has withdrawn from Gaza.

On March 1, 2025, Hamas released a propaganda video showing freed Israeli hostage Iair Horn alongside his younger brother Eitan, who remains in captivity, in what appears to be their final moments together before Iair’s release. The footage also features another former hostage, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and a current hostage, Nimrod Cohen, without revealing his face. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office condemned the video as “cruel propaganda” and reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to bringing all hostages home. 

Later that day, Israel agreed to a U.S.-proposed temporary ceasefire during Ramadan and Passover following a security meeting led by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Under the framework proposed by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, half of the living hostages and the remains of deceased hostages will be released initially, with the rest to follow if a permanent ceasefire is reached. Hamas rejected the proposal. If no agreement is reached, fighting will resume. The Trump administration pressured Israel to allow more time to resolve the deadlock.

On March 5, Axios reported that Trump officials, led by U.S. Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler, engaged in unprecedented direct talks with Hamas in Doha since February regarding U.S. hostages and a potential long-term truce. This was an abrupt change in American policy, which for decades has refused to engage with terrorists. The U.S. declared Hamas a terrorist organization in 1997. While Israel was consulted, it learned some details indirectly and was angry about the change in U.S. policy. Israel was also concerned that Boehler was negotiating only over the release of the one living American hostage and the bodies of four others in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners.

 Boehler insisted that his top priority is to secure the release of hostages and pursue American interests. “We’re not an agent of Israel. We have specific interests at play. And we did communicate back and forth. We had very specific parameters by which we fell,” he said. “And the reality is, what I wanted to do is jump-start some negotiations that were in a very fragile place.”

His negotiations reportedly failed, and focus returned to Witkoff, who flew to Doha to continue talks.

That same day, seven freed hostages—Doron Steinbrecher, Eli Sharabi, Naama Levy, Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, and Keith and Aviva Siegel—met with President Trump in Washington, thanking his administration for its efforts and stressing the urgency of freeing all remaining hostages. At his office, they saw hostage posters, left personal messages, and later visited the DC chapter of the forum, learning about its advocacy since the October 7 massacre.  

President Trump meets with freed hostages at the Oval Office, March 5, 2025

Following the meeting, Trump issued a forceful ultimatum to Hamas: “Shalom Hamas means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose.” Calling their actions “sick and twisted,” he warned, “Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.” Urging Hamas leaders to flee Gaza, he told Gazans, “A beautiful future awaits, but not if you hold hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!” He ended with a clear demand: “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!” Pledging full support for Israel, he vowed to provide “everything it needs to finish the job” if Hamas does not comply.

Witkoff subsequently surprised many when he suggested the United States could become directly involved. “I think there’s going to be some action taken” if Hamas fails to surrender its hostages. “It could be jointly with the Israelis.”

When asked about the remark, Trump said, “Well, we’re going to find out.” He added, “Somebody’s going to have to get a lot rougher than they’re getting. It’s a shame.”

Hamas released a propaganda video featuring hostage soldier Matan Angrest on March 7, 2025. He appeals to the Israeli government, former U.S. President Donald Trump, and Israeli military leaders for his release. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has asked media outlets not to share the video or images without the family’s consent. Separately, Angrest’s family has released a photo of him in captivity from another Hamas video.

The United States set off an imbroglio after Boehler called Palestinian prisoners “hostages” and appeared to praise Hamas for flexibility and suggest they were “nice guys.” He had to make the following statement to calm the outrage: “I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR as some have misinterpreted.  Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people.  They are BY DEFINITION BAD people.  And as POTUS (US president) has said, not a single Hamas member will be safe if Hamas doesn’t RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES IMMEDIATELY.”

Boehler also said Hamas proposed a five- to ten-year ceasefire and that it will not act militarily or politically during that time.

Netanyahu avoided confrontation with Trump over Hamas talks, instead letting his closest adviser, Ron Dermer, express anger in a call with Boehler. According to Axios, Trump’s aides proposed direct talks with Hamas in February, which Israel opposed, especially without preconditions. Despite this, Boehler met Hamas officials in Doha, focusing only on freeing American hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of four others. Boehler reportedly suggested it would improve their position with Trump and how they would be treated if a ceasefire were maintained. The gambit was hoped to provide Trump with a significant success, which he could highlight in his speech to Congress. The Israelis were particularly incensed by Boehler talking about the release of jailed Palestinians to get the Americans without having consulted them.

Axios also reported that a former official with ties to the Biden administration had also spoken to Hamas about a deal for the s, but they failed because of Hamas demands that required Israeli approval. Before Trump took office, the report said Witkoff had also raised the idea of direct talks with Hamas.

As was the case when Witkoff first got involved, some Israeli officials and supporters suggested Boehler was freelancing without the president’s knowledge or approval. However, the White House said that Trump “fully backs and supports” Boehler’s talks.

The administration appeared to want to put the issue to rest as Secretary Rubio said Boehler’s negotiations were “a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so.” He added, “As of now, it hasn’t borne fruit. Doesn’t mean he was wrong to try, but our primary vehicle for negotiations on this front will continue to be Mr. Witkoff and the work he’s doing through Qatar.” 

Trump also made a remark that raised eyebrows, expressing surprise that the hostages did not encounter anyone “nice.” Referring to his meeting with some of the survivors, Trump said he asked them: 

U.S. Middle East Peace envoy Witkoff emphasized the need for deadlines in the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. He stated that the terror group has no choice but to disarm and leave the Gaza Strip, which would open the door for negotiations towards peace. Witkoff criticized the conditions in which the hostages are held, calling them “unacceptable” and “deplorable.” He also praised Qatar’s mediation efforts. The negotiations involved a framework, backed by the U.S., that proposed Hamas release 10 hostages in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire extension. 

France supports a one-time release of all hostages held in Gaza as part of a comprehensive deal to end the war. The country engaged in diplomatic efforts, working with Arab states to facilitate an agreement. France emphasized the need to transition to a post-war phase focused on ensuring Israel’s security and replacing Hamas rule in Gaza. Macron previously stressed the importance of a long-term political solution to stabilize the region. The French, however, have little influence and are not part of the principal negotiation between Israel, Qatar, Egypt, the U.S., and Hamas.

Following U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Qatar, a new hostage-ceasefire proposal is under discussion, with Hamas potentially releasing five living hostages and the bodies of nine deceased ones in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire. Talks on extending the deal would occur during this period, formally ending on April 20. A source expressed optimism about progress, noting that negotiation teams remain in Qatar. Witkoff is described as deeply committed to securing the hostages’ release, seeking a comprehensive rather than a partial deal, with President Trump also addressing the issue.

The following day, Hamas announced it had agreed to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and return the remains of four deceased American hostages—Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai, and Judy Weinstein Haggai. In response, Israel accused Hamas of manipulating negotiations by deviating from the American proposal and refusing to compromise. Israeli officials criticized Hamas’s selective release of American hostages as an attempt to sabotage talks. 

The U.S. dismissed Hamas’s claim of an agreement on the release of the Americans. In a joint statement, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the National Security Council accused Hamas of falsely projecting flexibility while privately making impractical demands for a permanent ceasefire. The U.S. warned that Hamas was making a “very bad bet” by delaying and reaffirmed that the group’s response must meet the deadline. The statement emphasized that Hamas was explicitly told via Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the U.S.’s “bridge” proposal must be implemented soon, with Edan Alexander’s immediate release as a condition.

The Palestinian Authority condemned Hamas’ statement that said the organization had opened a communication channel with the U.S. administration. Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Hamas was dividing the national position and negotiating without a national mandate.

The hostages continued to languish as Hamas refused to disarm and relinquish its military and civil control over Gaza.

Fighting Resumes

After weeks of fruitless negotiations with Hamas to extend the ceasefire and release the remaining hostages, Israel received indications that Hamas was planning to carry out further terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. On March 18, 2025, the decision was made to launch a surprise preemptive attack on Hamas targets in Gaza. The operation was named “Strength and Sword.”

Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s extensive efforts to secure the release of hostages, including extending the ceasefire and engaging in negotiations through mediators. Despite accepting multiple proposals, including one from Witkoff, Hamas rejected all offers. The prime minister declared that Israel would escalate military action, negotiate while fighting, and pursue its war objectives: freeing hostages, eliminating Hamas, and neutralizing Gaza as a threat.

Expressing solidarity with hostage families, Netanyahu assured them of ongoing efforts for their loved ones. He stressed that past hostage releases were only achieved through military pressure.

Hamas claimed that an Israeli hostage was killed and several others wounded in an airstrike. However, this claim remains unverified and may be part of Hamas’s psychological warfare strategy.

Witkoff surprised many observers with comments to Tucker Carlson. He said Hamas is not “ideologically intractable” and that while their desire to rule Gaza is “unacceptable,” it was possible for them to “stay there a little bit… be involved politically” if they disarmed.

As Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Gaza, ostensibly to pressure Hamas to release the hostages, the terrorists said, “Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins” and that while it was “doing everything possible to keep the occupation’s captives alive,...the random Zionist bombardment is endangering their lives.”

The U.S. reportedly proposed that if Hamas released American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, Trump would make a statement calling for calm in Gaza and the resumption of negotiations for a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas later said it agreed to a proposal to release five living hostages, including Alexander, for a 50-day ceasefire. Israel countered by asking for the release of 11 hostages on the first day of a 40-day ceasefire. Hamas would be required to provide information on the remaining hostages on the 5th day and return 16 bodies on the 10th day.

Hamas has chosen not to engage with Israel’s counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, instead remaining committed to the original plan proposed by mediators Egypt and Qatar, according to a Hamas official. Israel submitted its counterproposal on March 29, in coordination with the U.S. On April 2, Hamas chose not to engage with Israel’s counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, instead remaining committed to the original plan proposed by mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Many families of hostages expressed anger over the continuation of the war. They want a ceasefire to bring home their loved ones. Some families, however, support the continued fighting, agreeing with the prime minister that military pressure is necessary to free the hostages.

Regardless of the families’ opinions, the obstacle to freeing the hostages remained Hamas. The IDF said on April 16 that it had not begun a major offensive, hoping that the ongoing operation would pressure Hamas into an agreement. However, Hamas rejected the latest Israeli proposal for a six-week truce because it required Hamas to disarm. Further complicating matters was the Hamas admission that it had lost contact with the terrorists holding Israeli-American hostage soldier Edan Alexander.

Responding to growing protests and calls to end the war to secure the release of the hostages, Netanyahu said the war would continue until Hamas was removed from power. To those who suggested that Israel end the war to free the hostages and then return to fighting, he said Hamas could not be tricked into such a deal. He stated that Hamas is demanding “binding international guarantees” to ensure that Israel does not go back to war after the release of the hostages. “Those among us who are saying capitulate to the dictates of Hamas are saying ‘capitulate now, leave Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor, deceive Hamas, promise you won’t go back to war, and when we have got all the hostages back, go back to war.’

“Hamas are a group of despicable murderers, but they’re not stupid,” he added. “They are demanding binding international guarantees which do not enable this illusion of deception which all these experts are suggesting.... one, not the U.S. not China, not Russia, not others in the UN Security Council, will cooperate with this scam, something which will make returning to war impossible. We won’t have any legitimacy to do this. There is no ‘fake obligation.’ If we obligate not to fight, we can’t go back to fighting in Gaza.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked outrage when he said on April 21, 2025: “We have to say the truth, returning the hostages is not the most important thing...It is obviously a very important goal, but if you want to destroy Hamas so that there can’t be another October 7, you need to understand that there can’t be a situation where Hamas remains in Gaza.”

Smotrich had opposed the ceasefires and threatened to leave the government, potentially causing its collapse, if the war did not continue until the destruction of Hamas.

In a surprising television speech, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke out for the first time about ending the war and blaming Hamas for the suffering created by its refusal to free the hostages. “Sons of dogs,” he said, “hand over the hostages and end the matter.”

Abbas said his goals were: “Returning the hostages; lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza; stopping the displacement of our people in coordination with Arab countries; and defending the ‘Palestinian cause.’”

On April 27, 2025, Netanyahu said the only reason Israel was not destroying the remnants of Hamas was because of concern for the hostages. He reiterated his oft-stated goal: “We have to finish the war in Gaza, get our hostages back and destroy Hamas.”

In May 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Qatar’s lack of cooperation for the failure of a recent potential hostage deal with Hamas. He asserted that Qatari pressure on Hamas—given its significant influence—could have secured an agreement that would have freed nearly half of the hostages. Netanyahu emphasized the need for both international support and increased pressure on Qatar. He claimed Egypt had helped broker the almost completed deal, which ultimately collapsed due to Qatari inaction.

On the same month, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that the number of living hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had dropped from 24 to 21. In response, Israeli hostage envoy Gal Hirsch clarified that Israel’s official list still includes 24 living hostages. The discrepancy may arise from Israel lacking confirmed intelligence about the fate of some hostages, meaning some may be presumed dead but not officially declared as such. The following day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified that Israel knows with certainty that 21 hostages are still alive, with the status of three others uncertain, and vowed not to give up on any of them.

Hamas is holding 59 hostages in Gaza, including five Americans. Among them, Israeli intelligence has confirmed the deaths of 35 hostages. Based on testimonies from released hostages and Hamas propaganda videos, 21 of the remaining 24 are confirmed to be alive.

Table of Contents for Israel-Hamas Wa
Bibliography and Photo Credits

About Mitchell Bard