Their portraits are everywhere in Israel. They adorn the posters of the daily demonstrations organised in their support. They are broadcast endlessly on television channels. While the world is outraged by the humanitarian catastrophe that is ravaging the Gaza Strip – the death toll has now surpassed 40,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health – Israel, with these images, is living the trauma of 7 October 2023, the most terrible attack in its history ever suffered on its territory, during which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were captured.
kidnapped person (including the remains of those killed)
murdered personduring the attack on October 7, 2023
Hamas attack, between October 7 and 9, 2023
Hover over the dots to get information about the hostages.
Nir Oz
This kibbutz, founded in 1955, less than 3 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, had about 400 inhabitants. About a quarter of them were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured during the attack on 7 October.
Thirty-six residents of Nir Oz remain detained in Gaza: among them, around twenty whose deaths were confirmed by the Israeli authorities and the last two children still in captivity, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, whose death was announced on 29 November by Hamas following an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, without being confirmed by Israel.
Nova Festival
This electronic music festival was held near Kibbutz Reïm and continued into the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023, when Hamas commandos entered Israeli territory. Some 3,500 people participated. 364 of them were killed – more than a quarter of the total victims – and more than forty were kidnapped. Israel has yet to secure the release of eighteen hostages kidnapped at the festival site, as well as the restitution of the remains of several participants who died on October 7 or during their captivity. Nine of them were released, five of them during the temporary truce at the end of November 2023 and four during Israeli army operations.
beer
In this kibbutz of 1,100 inhabitants, which celebrated its 77thmy On the anniversary of the day before the Hamas attack, there were many left-wing women and men committed to Palestinian rights. On 7 October 2023, one in ten residents was killed there and more than thirty people were abducted. As of 3 September, the families were awaiting the return of three of them, as well as the restitution of several remains.
Nahal Oz Base
Located less than a kilometer from the Gaza border, near the Nahal Oz kibbutz, this base housed Unit 414 of the Border Defense Corps, responsible for border surveillance and staffed primarily by women. At least three months before the Hamas attack, these soldiers had reported unusual events on the Gaza border, unheeded by intelligence officials. During the October 7 attack, fifteen of them were killed and six were taken hostage – five are still held hostage – as well as two residents of the kibbutz.
kfar aza
Founded in 1951, the kibbutz had a population of 700. During the attack on 7 October, Hamas men killed at least 51 people and took around 20 residents hostage, mainly women, children and the elderly. On 15 December, two hostages from Kfar Aza were mistakenly killed by the Israeli army in Gaza, as was a farm worker kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Am. Five people remain held hostage in Gaza.
Sderot
This border town, just 1 km north of the Gaza Strip, had been under threat from Hamas rockets for years. On 7 October, Hamas fighters entered and killed numerous civilians, including 15 passengers on a tourist minibus, pensioners heading to the Dead Sea, before attacking the local police station. No one was abducted there and taken to Gaza.
Of the approximately 34,000 people who lived in the city before the Hamas attack, only a few thousand remain.
Thai workers
Thailand is the second most represented country among the hostages still held by Hamas, with eight nationals. Thai migrant workers represent the largest contingent of foreign agricultural workers in Israel: before the Hamas attack, around 30,000 were employed on farms and kibbutzim, including 5,000 in the Gaza Strip. They have replaced the Palestinian workforce, whose work permits have been limited for the past twenty years.
Thirty-nine Thai citizens were killed during the October 7 attack and around thirty of them were kidnapped: 23 of them were released during the temporary truce in November 2023.
Other Thai workers kidnapped in the border territories with the Gaza Strip (exact location unknown)
Israeli soldiers
According to an Israeli army count, at least 306 serving soldiers were killed during the Hamas attack between 7 and 9 October 2023. Twenty soldiers and their remains were transferred to the Gaza Strip. Among the soldiers excluded from the hostage negotiations between Hamas and the State of Israel, fourteen remain there (including five soldiers from Nahal Oz).
Other soldiers on duty kidnapped in the territories bordering the Gaza Strip (exact location unknown)
Sources: oct7map.com; colectivo7october.org; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel; OpenstreetMap; Haaretz, The world
The October 7, 2023 hostage-taking, an integral part of the Hamas attack, remains a central element of Israeli political life. Sunday, October 1Ahem In September, the Israeli army announced that it had recovered the remains of six such hostages in the southern Gaza Strip, killed by “ a bullet in the neck »according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who echoed the findings of the Israeli Ministry of Health, which carried out the autopsy on the bodies. Hamas’s chief negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya, said for his part that a “bombing” Israel was responsible for their deaths. This discovery has sparked great emotion among the hostages’ families, who are putting pressure on the government to obtain the release of their loved ones in exchange for a truce in Gaza. On Monday, September 2, the head of the Histadrut, the powerful Israeli trade union, even called on Israelis to go on a general strike to demand an agreement on the release of the hostages. 101 people, a third of whom are believed to be dead, remain detained in Gaza.
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In exchange for the Israeli hostages, Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners – including executives such as Fatah member Marwan Barghouti, one of Palestine’s most popular politicians – the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a lasting ceasefire and the reconstruction of the enclave, some 70% of which has been destroyed, according to the UN.
Among the points of contention between Israel and Hamas, one stands out particularly: the Philadelphia corridor, this strip of land that runs along the 14-kilometer common border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The Israeli army took control at the end of May, against all advice, in particular that of Egypt and the United States, for whom its maintenance constituted a potential red line. Hamas now refuses to enter into negotiations if the Israeli army remains stationed along the corridor.
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Anthony Robbins is a tech-savvy blogger and digital influencer known for breaking down complex technology trends and innovations into accessible insights.
