JERUSALEM (news agencies) — Israel’s military has rescued its eighth hostage from Gaza since the 10-month-old war began.
While the rescue Tuesday set off celebrations, it also renewed calls from the families of hostages who are still being held in Gaza for a deal that would bring home their loved ones before it’s too late. They say an agreement, not military rescues, is the best hope.
International mediators have tried for months to broker a deal that would see scores of hostages still held by Hamas exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and a cease-fire. But Israel and Hamas cannot agree on key portions of the deal.
Of some 250 hostages taken by Hamas militants in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, around 105 were released in a cease-fire last November. Israel says 108 remain in Gaza, at least 36 of whom are believed dead.
“After 10 months, the IDF managed just to release a small number of hostages from Hamas and the rest of them must be released by negotiations and by ending this war,” said Mazen Abu Siam, a close friend of Qaid Farhan Alkadi, the hostage who was freed Tuesday.
Here’s where things stand, according to official Israeli figures:
The Israeli military has rescued eight hostages in Gaza, per an news agencies count.
It brought one home in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, a female soldier, Pvt. Ori Megidish, 19.
Two men, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were rescued in February, when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment in southern Gaza. Airstrikes carried out to provide cover during the raid killed more than 60 Palestinians, including women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The military rescued four hostages — Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 — in June, killing at least 210 Palestinians in the operation, according to a Gaza health official.
On Tuesday, the military said it had rescued Alkadi.
Israeli troops mistakenly killed three hostages — Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Al-Talalka 25, and Alon Shamriz, 26 — in December.
The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it was believed that the three had escaped their captors or had been abandoned.
The soldiers mistakenly identified the three Israelis as a threat and opened fire on them, he said.
Israel’s hostage crisis began when Hamas-backed militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 more.
Of the hostages taken to Gaza, 105 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The released hostages included 81 Israeli citizens and 24 foreign nationals, most of them Thai.