Israel-Hamas hostage deal: Who is still believed to be alive in Gaza and awaiting release

Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to exchange the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip for Palestinian prisoners, potentially as soon as the weekend, raising hopes that the two-year war may be closer to an end.

There are 48 Israeli hostages in Gaza, according to Israel, the last group of some 250 people taken during the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 others.

The Israeli government believes that 20 hostages are still alive and 26 have died in captivity. Two hostages have not been declared dead, but no recent signs of life have been received for them, according to Israeli authorities.

Here is a list of the hostages believed to be alive or whose circumstances are unknown. Their names and ages have been provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that advocates on behalf of the hostages and their loved ones.

Alon Ohel

Alon Ohel, 24, a pianist from northern Israel, was seized from a roadside bomb shelter after fleeing the Nova music festival, where more than 380 people were killed during the Hamas-led assault in southern Israel.

The attack on the crowded shelter left him with shrapnel wounds in his right eye. After he appeared in a recent video released by Hamas, his family said it was clear he was now partially blind. Three hostages who were held with Mr Ohel in a tunnel before they were released in February in an emaciated state, said they had all been kept in chains.

Ariel Cunio

Ariel Cunio, 28, was kidnapped along with his partner, Arbel Yehud, from their home in Nir Oz, a rural community near the Gaza border that was ravaged in the Hamas assault.

“It was our private paradise,” Yehud, who was released in January, wrote in a Facebook post last month marking Cunio’s 700th day in captivity. Mr Cunio’s brother, David Cunio, was also abducted from Nir Oz.

David Cunio

David Cunio, 35, was abducted along with his wife, Sharon Cunio, and their twin daughters, Yuli and Emma, then 3 years old.

Sharon Cunio and the children were released in November 2023. In a video filmed in July, on their 5th birthday, the twins said their wish was for their father to return from Gaza. “It’s always the only wish,” Sharon Cunio said.

“There’s nothing else.”

Avinatan Or

Avinatan Or, 32, was abducted alongside his partner, Noa Argamani, from the Nova music festival. Video footage showed gunmen dragging him across a field while Argamani, who was taken to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle, cried out in desperation.

The Israeli military rescued Argamani from an apartment in central Gaza in June 2024. Before his abduction, Or worked for a prominent tech company.

Bar Kupershtein

Bar Kupershtein, 23, was taken from the Nova festival, where he was working as a security guard. He had stayed to help rescue others, according to relatives.

In a recent interview published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Mr Kupershtein’s aunt, Ora Rubinstein, said she hoped that President Donald Trump would bring the hostages back so that the family could return to some normality.

Bipin Joshi

Bipin Joshi, 24, a student from Nepal, arrived in Israel on a “Learn and Earn” program less than a month before he was abducted from Kibbutz Alumim, a communal village near the Gaza border. Israeli authorities said they were unable to determine his fate and feared for his life.

On Wednesday, his family released footage of him from Gaza, filmed around November 2023, in which he appeared to be uninjured. His family said in a statement that the footage served as “a confirmation of our steadfast belief that he is alive.”

Eitan Horn

Eitan Horn, 38, was taken from Nir Oz with his older brother, Iair Horn, who was released in February.

Appearing before an Israeli parliamentary committee last month, Iair Horn pleaded for a deal that would release the hostages and end the war. He described being held underground with his brother when a missile fell nearby. As they ran, the tunnel nearly collapsed on them, he said. When Mr Horn could not run anymore, Iair said he dragged him along in the direction their captors ordered them to go.

Eitan Mor

Eitan Mor, 25, was taken from the Nova festival, where he was working as a security guard. Witnesses said he worked to evacuate casualties during the assault.

In a video filmed last year, his mother, Efrat Mor, said that sometime before the October 2023 attack, the subject of kidnapping had come up in conversation around their Sabbath table. She related that Eitan Mor had said at the time that should he ever be abducted, he would not want to be exchanged for Palestinians convicted of terrorism.

Elkana Bohbot

Elkana Bohbot, 36, was abducted from the Nova festival, where he was working in production and stayed to help others instead of escaping, according to his family. He had left his wife, Rivka Bohbot, and son, Reem, then 3, at home.

Speaking at a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv in February, Bohbot said her husband had “wanted a happy life for the family, to travel abroad and to bring up Reem with love.”

Evyatar David

Evyatar David, 24, was captured from the Nova festival along with his friend Guy Gilboa-Dalal. David’s brother, Ilay David, described him as “shy but full of life” and said he had “the soul of a musician” and had played guitar since he was 10.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council in August, Ilay David cited medical experts as saying that video footage of his brother released by Hamas showed that he had lost nearly half his body weight.

Nimrod Cohen

Nimrod Cohen was a 19-year-old conscript on guard duty with his tank crew near the Gaza border on Oct. 7, 2023, when his tank malfunctioned and he was taken alive into the enclave. The rest of the crew was killed.

Mr Cohen’s mother, Viki Cohen, told The New York Times this week that her son was sensitive and nature-loving and had an inner calm and “a rich inner world,” which she hoped had helped him in captivity.

Gali Berman and Ziv Berman

Gali and Ziv Berman are 28-year-old twin brothers who were abducted from Kfar Aza along with their friend and neighbour Emily Damari. Damari was released in January.

She said after her release that Gali had run to her house on the morning of the attack because she was afraid to be alone. The twins were separated on their first day in Gaza, she said.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, was kidnapped from the Nova festival.

He has appeared in at least two videos released by Hamas: one in February, which showed him and Evyatar David being forced to watch the release of other hostages, and one in September, which showed him alongside Alon Ohel. Such videos are produced under extreme duress, and human rights groups say they constitute a war crime.

Maxim Herkin

Maxim Herkin, 37, immigrated to Israel from Ukraine and lived with his family in the northern town of Tirat Carmel before the attack. He was kidnapped from the Nova festival, which The Times of Israel reported he had decided to attend at the last minute.

At the time of his abduction, he had a 3-year-old daughter and was the family breadwinner for his mother and brother, according to The Times of Israel.

Matan Angrest

Matan Angrest, 22, was a soldier in the Israeli army and was kidnapped from his tank during a battle with Hamas fighters near the Gaza border, according to Ron Krivoi, another hostage who was released in November 2023.

Since Angrest was kidnapped, his mother, Anat Angrest, has been an activist for the release of the hostages and a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

Matan Zangauker

Matan Zangauker, 25, lived in Nir Oz with his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky. They were both kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, but Gritzewsky was released during a ceasefire that November.

Mr Zangauker’s mother, Einav, has been a fierce critic of the Israeli government since Mr Zangauker’s capture. In a letter to Netanyahu, she told him: “I will personally haunt you if my Matan comes home in a body bag.”

Omri Miran

Omri Miran, 48, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz by Hamas militants who left his wife, Lishay Miran-Lavi, and two small children, Roni, 5, and Alma, 2, behind.

Miran-Lavi has not returned to their ruined house, but she told the BBC this year that she sometimes went back to the kibbutz to be closer to Gaza, which is just under a half-mile away, and to feel closer to her husband.

Rom Braslavski

Rom Braslavski, 21, was working as a security guard at the Nova festival when he was kidnapped, according to Haaretz.

He was last seen in August in a video released by Palestinian Islamic Jihad that showed him looking emaciated and frail. The video, which was made under extreme duress, caused anguish and outrage in Israel.

Segev Kalfon

Segev Kalfon, 27, was kidnapped as he tried to escape the Nova festival.

His family travelled to New York last year on a religious mission organised by Chabad Lubavitch, a Hasidic Jewish group based in Brooklyn, to pray at the grave site of the Lubavitcher spiritual leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, known as the Rebbe.

Tamir Nimrodi

Tamir Nimrodi, 20, is a soldier who was kidnapped from a military base near Gaza during the October 2023 attack. He was kidnapped along with two army friends whose remains were later returned to Israel for burial.

Israeli media reported this year that officials feared Mr Nimrodi might have died in captivity. But the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said there had been no definitive evidence that he was either alive or dead.

Yosef-Chaim Ohana

Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25, was helping injured people flee the Nova festival when he was captured by Hamas, according to Haaretz.

The newspaper said he worked as a bartender in Tel Aviv before the October 7 attack. This year, he was shown in a video released by Hamas.

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