Middle East War: Hamas spokesman: Nobody knows how many hostages are still alive

More than eight months after the attack on Israel, the Islamist Hamas says it does not know how many of the approximately 120 hostages believed to be in the Gaza Strip are still alive. “I don’t know. Nobody knows,” claimed Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan in an interview with the US television channel CNN published on Friday.

Only on Saturday, Israeli soldiers freed four hostages from Hamas in the Gaza Strip during a large-scale military operation. According to information from the health authority controlled by the terrorist organization – which cannot be independently verified – 274 Palestinians were killed.

In Israel, numerous people have been taking to the streets for months, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government make greater efforts to bring all the hostages home. The hostages also play an important role in the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire. A plan presented by US President Joe Biden initially envisages a temporary ceasefire during which female, elderly and sick Israeli hostages are to be released. In return, Palestinians imprisoned in Israel would be released. In the next phase, the fighting would then cease permanently and the remaining hostages would be released. In a final phase, according to the draft, the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip would begin.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, with more than 1,200 deaths, which was carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7. More than 250 hostages were abducted to the Gaza Strip. It is feared that a large proportion of the approximately 120 hostages who are probably still being held in the Gaza Strip are no longer alive.