Israel works to free hostages, without knowing if they are alive or dead

By Shira Rubin, The Washington PostFamily members of hostages held by Hamas and their supporters gather at the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel in February to demand the release of their loved ones.

Israel says that 133 hostages are still in captivity, ranging from toddlers to the elderly, and that 36 of those hostages are confirmed dead. In gruesome footage posted by his captors, Goldberg-Polin is shown packed into the back of a truck, his arm blown off by a grenade. Maybe he was treated, Polin and his wife, Rachel Goldberg, hoped. “We remain optimistic because we have no choice,” he said.

But, for the families of the hostages, more is unknown than known. Refael Franco, former deputy head of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, who ran hostage tracking in the early days of the war, said that as Israel’s intelligence dries up, it is having trouble estimating where the hostages are. Because of this, he said, Israel is worried about miscalculating how many are dead.

The goal more broadly is to reach an accord that will halt the fighting and free the hostages and some Palestinian prisoners, while increasing aid to Gaza, which is on the brink of famine. At least 33,482 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Also abducted from Nir Oz were Shiri Bibas, 32, her husband, Yarden, 33, and their two young sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, then 9 months old. Shiri Bibas was filmed on Oct. 7, terrified and clutching her children as gunmen forced them into captivity. The militants also recorded Yarden’s abduction and later released a video in which he was forced to say that his wife and sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

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