Most of the 200 or so people kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants and taken to the Gaza Strip are still alive, the Israeli military said on Friday.
“The majority of the hostages are alive. There were also dead bodies that were taken… to the Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.
The military said more than 20 hostages were children, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60.
There are also between 100 and 200 people considered missing since the Hamas attacks, the army added.
Palestinian paramedics carry a youth injured during clashes with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on October 20, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas militants. Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza on October 8. (Photo by YURI CORTEZ / AFP)
On October 7, the Palestinian militant group carried out a deadly assault on Israel, the worst in the country’s 75-year history, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment that has killed at least 3,785 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
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