• On 7 October 2023 Hamas took 251 people hostage in Israel. Today 101 remain in Gaza, of whom an estimated 64 are still alive.
• In recent months, protests by hostage families in Israel against the Netanyahu government have intensified.
• Pressure for a ceasefire aimed at securing the hostages' release is growing across the country.

On 7 October 2023, thousands of militants from the Palestinian organisation Hamas crossed into Israeli territory and stormed a music festival and several villages, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

After decades of occupation of Palestinian territories, of suppression of basic rights and freedoms, after decades of violations of international law, Israel found itself confronted with horror and violence on its own soil as never before. "Hatred only breeds hatred", said journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani. From Israel's violence against the Palestinian people was born Hamas's violence against Israel, which in turn responded with a new wave of unprecedented violence. Within a year, the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip had killed approximately 42,000 people, destroyed or damaged 80 per cent of homes, pushed 90 per cent of the population to the brink of famine and caused the return of diseases that had been painstakingly eradicated, such as polio.

Israeli fire has also killed several of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, while others were killed by the Palestinian organisation itself. Some have been freed or managed to escape, and today approximately one hundred Israeli hostages are believed to remain in the Gaza Strip: men, women, children. In Israel, people take to the streets every week to demand their release, but the vigils organised and led by hostage family associations have increasingly become an occasion for deep criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government. "Israel's leaders should accept any deal on the table that leads to the release of the hostages", the Forum of Hostages' Families tells LifeGate.

How many Israeli hostages are there

Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023, 117 have been released over the course of the year. This happened almost exclusively in late November 2023, thanks to a deal between the Israeli government and Hamas that led to around ten days of ceasefire.

Another 70 hostages have been killed, according to Israeli sources. Half of the bodies are still in the Gaza Strip; the others have been brought home by the army. Some of the hostages are believed to have died on the very day of the Hamas attack on 7 October, others during captivity in the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian sources, the majority died under Israeli bombs, which over the course of a year destroyed or damaged 80 per cent of homes in the Palestinian territory, indiscriminately striking schools, hospitals, refugee camps, institutional buildings and humanitarian facilities and causing approximately 42,000 deaths. Three hostages were then shot in cold blood in the street by Israeli soldiers who had mistaken them for Palestinians — evidence of the complete absence of discernment with which Israel's army has been operating.

Today, 101 hostages officially remain in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli sources believe that 64 are still alive: 52 men, ten women and two children.

The protests against Netanyahu

Every Saturday, the families of Israeli hostages gather in the squares of Tel Aviv. They have been doing so for a year now, and will continue until the last hostage has come home. While in the early months the finger was pointed squarely at the Palestinian organisation Hamas, the protests now target above all Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government, the most extremist in the country's history.

"Although Hamas bears primary responsibility, we also expect our own government to do everything in its power to bring our loved ones home. Israel's leaders should accept any viable deal on the table", the Forum of Hostages' Families tells LifeGate — an organisation founded on 7 October 2023 by relatives of those kidnapped by Hamas to demand their release. The families accuse Netanyahu of having no interest in negotiating to bring the hostages home, and of being solely intent on waging an open-ended military offensive that lacks clear objectives beyond an unrealistic "total defeat of Hamas". As the months have passed, Israeli civil society's participation in the protests organised by the Forum of Hostages' Families has grown, culminating in the mass national demonstration of half a million people on 1 September, which took place at the very same time as the announcement of the deaths of a further six hostages.

"The overwhelming majority of Israeli civil society supports the hostages and their families. People are taking part in events and rallies across the country and abroad to show solidarity", the Forum of Hostages' Families continues. "As we mark one year since 7 October, we urge the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis of the hostages — people from 24 countries and five religions, forced to endure horrific conditions including starvation, darkness and physical and sexual abuse." United Nations analyses have established that there is "clear and convincing information" of incidents of sexual abuse committed by Hamas militants against Israeli hostages, but also that Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are reported to have suffered sexual violence at the hands of Israeli security forces. Several other reports have highlighted that the Israeli army, during these months of invasion of the Gaza Strip, has committed war crimes, including humiliation and various forms of abuse, against Palestinian civilians, including healthcare workers and children — which is why the UN added Israel to its "list of shame".

"We want a hostage deal"

The protests by the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas are indeed directed against the Netanyahu government, but in a different way from those that have brought millions of people onto the streets around the world. Whereas in the latter case the rallying cry is "stop the genocide in Gaza" and a ceasefire rooted in pacifist principles, in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities those who take to the streets do so to demand the release of the hostages and a ceasefire that serves that purpose.

"As a nation, we cannot move forward until all the hostages have come home: the living, to begin their complex rehabilitation process, and the murdered, for a dignified burial", the Forum of Hostages' Families emphasises to LifeGate. "As Israeli citizens, our demands are addressed to our leaders and to the government. We expect them to do everything within their power to secure the release of the hostages and to negotiate a deal. A hostage deal is the only path to achieving a ceasefire, ending the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians and bringing stability to the region."

The opposition to Netanyahu in Israel and to his handling of the military offensive on Gaza, which is increasingly drawing public participation, is creating divisions within civil society and even among the families of the hostages. The New York Times reported the story of the relatives of three hostages who oppose any deal between the Israeli government and Hamas. Among Israeli citizens, too, there are those who are beginning to look unfavourably upon the protests organised by the Hostages Families Forum, after the early months when the vigils drew in almost everyone — both supporters and critics of the government. The families of the hostages, however, have no intention of stopping their protests — quite the contrary. "Every day that passes without a deal brings more suffering for the hostages and their families," the Hostages Families Forum concludes. "The time factor is essential."