Middle East

Gaza, the stages of the crisis and the hostages. There were 251 of them: how many returned alive

The balance of a two-year seizure

13 October 2025

Released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who was kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and taken to Gaza, gestures upon arrival at Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Hospital, amid a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Petah Tikva, Israel October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

For the first time in more than two years, there are no more Israeli hostages alive in the hands of Hamas. The last 20 were released on Monday from Gaza, after 738 days in captivity, under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The release took place in two stages: seven hostages were freed in the early morning hours, followed by 13 more later in the day.

Twenty-eight hostages remain prisoners of Hamas. Their bodies are expected to be returned soon under the ceasefire agreement.

On 7 October 2023, 251 people had been taken hostage by Israel and held by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza. After more than two years, a definitive assessment can be drawn of this affair that has caused so much suffering for the families of those kidnapped and others: 168 hostages have returned alive to Israel, the others were victims of Hamas or of firefights during the Israeli offensive. Let us review the main stages.

20 October 2023. Thirteen days after the pogrom on 7 October, Hamas released the first two hostages of the 251 it had kidnapped: they were two Israeli-American citizens "for humanitarian reasons". They were Judith and Natalie Raanan, mother and daughter. On 23 October, two elderly Israeli women, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, and Nurit Cooper, 79, were also released on the same grounds.

24 November 2023. The truce between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar together with Egypt and the USA, comes into effect. The humanitarian pause, initially lasting four days, is extended until 1 December. During this time, 105 hostages are released in exchange for approximately 240 Palestinian detainees.

1 December 2023. The truce between Israel and Hamas comes to an end and fighting resumes in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army concentrates its operations mainly in the Khan Younis area, which is heavily bombarded.

15 December 2023. The Israeli army announces that it has mistakenly killed three hostages in the ongoing fighting in Shejaiya, a neighbourhood in Gaza city. Those who fell under friendly fire are Yotam Haim, Samer Fouad al-Talalka and Alon Lulu Shamriz. The Jewish state armed forces claim that the soldiers had mistaken them for Hamas militiamen.

8 June 2024. In a blitz in the Nuseirat area of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army frees four hostages. Among them is the young Noa Argamani, who had been kidnapped at the Nova Festival. Her images as she was taken away on a motorbike by Hamas militiamen to the Gaza Strip had become one of the symbols of 7 October. Along with her, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv also returned free.

19 August 2024. Israeli Defence Forces recover in the Gaza Strip the bodies of six hostages kidnapped on 7 October in the Khan Younis area. They are Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78.

31 August 2024. The Israeli army finds the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel under the city of Rafah. They are the Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lubnov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi. According to the IDF, they were executed by Hamas in the hours before the soldiers arrived. In the same area, the hostage of Bedouin origin Kaid Farhan Alkadi had been rescued three days earlier.

January 14, 2025. In the Doha talks, Israel and Hamas agree to a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages. A three-stage agreement based on the road map proposed months earlier by US President Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council. The first stage would see the gradual release of 33 hostages over six weeks, including women, children, adults, the elderly and wounded civilians, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian women and children held by Israel. Among those Hamas would release are five Israeli female soldiers, in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners each, including 30 militants sentenced to life imprisonment.

January 19, 2025. At 11:15 a.m. local time, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect, and thousands of displaced people march back to their homes. At the same time, Hamas frees the first three Israeli hostages. They are three women: Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. They return home after spending 471 days as prisoners in Gaza. Israel, for its part, frees 90 Palestinian prisoners, 69 women and 21 minors. During these two months of truce, Hamas will free a total of 33 people.

25 January 2025. Hamas released the four young Israeli female soldiers Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag, who had been kidnapped at an Israeli army observation point on the border with the Gaza Strip on 7 October. There was controversy over the public ceremony, in which the girls were made to stand on a stage to receive a 'certificate of release'.

1 February 2025. Hamas releases the French-Israeli citizen Ofer Kalderon, the American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, and Yarden Bibas. There remains great apprehension about the fate of his wife Shiri Bibas, and their two small children, Ariel and Kfir. The family says they 'continue to hope'.

20 February 2025. Hamas hands over the coffins of four Palestinian hostages kidnapped on 7 October. Among them are Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir, who on the day of the kidnapping were respectively 4 years and 9 months old. For 24 hours a mystery is played out over the woman's body: the remains handed over do not match her DNA. The following day Hamas hands over her body and speaks of a mistake.

12 May 2025. Hamas frees Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander after more than 580 days of captivity. According to his first testimony reported by the Israeli media, he was interrogated for weeks, tortured, and kept handcuffed in a cage for a long period of time.

at around 8 a.m. local time, 7 a.m. in Italy, Hamas begins the release of the 20 hostages13 October 2025 still alive, who are released in two stages. The operations to return the bodies of the 28 dead hostages, on the other hand, take longer to recover under the rubble of Gaza. In return Israel frees 1,966 Palestinian detainees, 250 convicted of terrorism and the others arrested after 7 October.