Hamas hostages: Stories of the people taken from Israel

A number of other people thought to have been held hostage are now confirmed to have died, either during the 7 October attack or while in captivity.

On 1 September, the IDF announced that its forces had recovered the bodies of six hostages: Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino. Their bodies were located in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area, the IDF said.

On 28 August it was announced that the body of an IDF soldier, who had been taken hostage, had been extracted from Gaza and returned to Israel. His name has not been released on request of his family.

Previously, on 8 August, it was announced that the bodies of Abraham Munder, Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtab, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger and Nadav Popplewell, who died in Hamas captivity, had been extracted from Gaza by the IDF and returned to Israel.

The IDF announced on 3 June it had told the families of four men taken hostage – Amiram Cooper, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger and Nadav Popplewell – that they were no longer alive and their bodies were being held by Hamas.

IDF soldier Itay Chen, 19, a dual US-Israeli citizen, was previously believed to be held hostage but was actually killed in the 7 October Hamas attacks, according to the IDF.

It has been confirmed by Israeli authorities that Lior Rudaeff, 61, of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, was murdered on 7 October and his body was abducted to Gaza. Elyakim Libman, 24, a security guard at the Nova music festival, was also murdered on 7 October, authorities said in May. Both men were previously reported as being among the hostages held in Gaza.

On 24 May, the Israeli army said that the bodies of three hostages had been recovered – Orion Hernandez, 30, Chanan Yablonka, 42, and Michel Nisenbaum, 59.

A number of hostages’ bodies were also found in mid-May – Shani Louk, 23, Amit Buskila, 27, Itzhak Gelerenter, 58, and Ron Benjamin, 53.

The families of two Thai hostages, Sonthaya Oakkharasr and Sudthisak Rinthalak, were informed on 16 May that they were killed during the 7 October attack and their bodies were being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Other hostages confirmed to have died include Gadi Haggai, Ron Scherman, Nik Beizer, Tal Chaimi, an Israeli-Romanian citizen aged 41, Joshua Mollel, a 19-year-old Tanzanian student, 27-year-old Eden Zecharya, and 36-year-old Ziv Dado.

Other fatalities include Jonathan Samerano, 21, Sahar Baruch, 25, Dror Kaplun, 68, Aviv Atzili, 49, Arye Zalmanovich, 85, Ronen Engel, 54, Maya Goren, 56, Guy Iluz, 26, Ofir Tzarfati, 27, Ofra Keider, 70, and Eliyahu Margalit, 75.

The bodies of 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano and 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss were found by Israeli troops in buildings close to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

In March, the family of Uriel Baruch, 35, said they had been informed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that he was killed on 7 October in the attack on the Nova music festival, and that his body was being held in Gaza. He was married with two children.

The death of Tamir Adar, 38, was announced on 5 January by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. This was followed by an announcement that Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky were also dead.

On 16 December 2023, the Israeli military expressed “deep remorse” after soldiers mistakenly killed three hostages in northern Gaza who had escaped from their captors. They were named as Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Talalka, 22, and Alon Shamriz, 26.

Inbar Heiman, a student taken from the Nova music festival was also confirmed dead in December.

Hostages whose death has been reported, but not confirmed, include Shiri Bibas, 32, and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir.

Research by Jamie Ryan and Emma Pengelly