Nearly quarter of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza dead, IDF believes - report

At least 32 hostages held in Gaza, nearly a quarter of the estimated 136 hostages held captive in the Hamas-run enclave, are dead, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing the IDF.

The families of the 32 deceased individuals whose deaths have been confirmed have been informed. 

Hamas has yet to confirm or reject the IDF report. Further, the Islamist terror organization has a history of reporting hostages killed in captivity as having been hit by Israeli airstrikes.

Also, in announcing the deaths of hostages in its captivity, Hamas has previously released teaser videos prior to such announcements.

The NYT noted that while Israel strives to place mounting pressure on Hamas to release hostages through its military campaign in the Strip, the families of many of the hostages still in Gaza have said the IDF’s operations have placed the hostages at further risk.

Most hostages returned in swaps with Hamas

The vast majority of the hostages returned from captivity were released during December’s pause in the fighting when Israel swapped Palestinian security prisoners for hostages. 

Ori Megidish was rescued by IDF troops in October of last year, but no other hostages have since been rescued in this manner thus far.

An additional three hostages, Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka, and Alon Shamriz, were mistakenly killed by IDF fire in December.

Speaking to the NYT, the IDF stated that it was “deploying all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information as possible regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.”

Later, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement slightly disputing the figure of 32 dead hostages. 

"According to the official data we have, there are 31 [dead hostages]," the forum stated. "Before the publication of the article, a coordinated message was delivered to all the families of the captives by liaison officers stating that there is no change in the estimates of the situation."