Who are the 137 hostages still being held in Gaza – Most of them men and soldiers

Most men, including fathers of freed children, soldiers and about 20 women: what is known about the hostages who remain captive in the Gaza Strip, where fighting started again today between Hamas and Israel, according to an AFP database, as relayed by APE-MPE.

Of the 240 hostages which were transported on October 7, the day of the Hamas attack on the Gaza Strip, the 105 were released during the seven-day ceasefire, among them 80 under the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement, in addition to 5 people released earlier. More specifically, they were released: 33 minors, 49 adult women, as well as 28 adult men, mostly Thai land workers, outside of the ceasefire agreement.

And while the Israeli raids began again in the Palestinian enclave, 137 hostages remain captured, according to the Israeli government, which is not disclosing any names. Among them are 126 Israelis or dual nationals, 8 Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one Franco-Mexican (Orion Hernandez-Radu, 32, whose identity was confirmed by his family).

The following information breaks down the 110 hostages believed to be alive in Gaza that AFP was able to identify as of December 1, thanks mainly to its network of journalists in regular contact with the families of the hostages and the Israeli media.

At least 15 soldiers, including 5 women

However, it is not certain who are still alive. Hamas announced the deaths of the hostages, but their details could not be identified by an independent source. This is the case with the youngest hostage, infant Kfir (10 months), his mother Siri Bibas (32) and his brother Ariel (4), whose deaths have not been confirmed by the Israeli military. So far, the Israeli military has confirmed the death of 2 hostages.

At the same time, since evidence that they are alive is rare, it often happens that victims, who were initially thought to be hostages, are eventually identified as dead in the October 7 attack. Apart from Kfir and Ariel, there are no more minor hostages in the Gaza Strip. The last of them, Aisha al-Zayedna (17), was released on Thursday, the last day of the ceasefire. THE Israel-Hamas agreement provided for their priority release.

On the contrary, women, the second group that would be set free as a priority, have not all been freed. At least 17 adult women are still being held. Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Hagai, both 70, are the two oldest women believed to remain hostages. Five women, aged 18 or 19, are soldiers and are not covered by the hostage release agreement. At least 10 male soldiers between the ages of 18 and 22 are added to them. Most were serving their military service and were not career soldiers.

Many hostages from the rave party

Including the soldiers, at least 91 adult men appear to remain prisoners. Among them are fathers of families whose children and spouses were released during the ceasefire, such as David Cunho, Dror Or, Tal Soham, Ilan Weiss, Gair Yaakov, Yousef al-Zayyadna or Ohad Yahalomi and Ofer Calderon, the fathers of French-Israeli minors Eitan, Erez and Sahar.

At least seven 70-year-olds and four 80-year-olds are believed to remain hostages, including husbands of freed women: Abraham (78), husband of Ruth Munder, Yoram (80), husband of Tamar Metger or Oded (83), and Amiram (85), the husbands of Yoseved Lifsic and Nurit Kuper, who were released in October.

In addition, among the hostages who remain captured, at least 33 were kidnapped in music festival child Tribe of Nova, which was attended by more than 3,000 people. Only five people who were at the rave festival were released during the truce, among them French-Israeli Mia Sem. At least 10 kibbutzim still count hostages. At the forefront is Nir Oz, which counts at least 28 captives (38 have been released). Beeri counts at least 11 hostages, Kfar Aza 6 and Nir Yitzhak 4.