Scores of Israeli hostages were captured in the south of the country by Hamas militants during their attack on Saturday, October 7 and taken to Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Force (IDF). On Sunday afternoon, the Israeli government press office issued a figure of more than 100 hostages – without specifying whether this included those who were held during the incursion in Israeli towns and villages and subsequently freed or killed.
The identity of most of the hostages has not been made public, but a number of foreign or dual nationals are believed to be among them. On Sunday, families gathered near Tel Aviv airport, where the police and army have set up a reception center for relatives of the missing – whether dead, wounded, kidnapped or having run and hid from the militants.
Representatives for these families spoke collectively to the press. "We demand answers," said Ori, a mother of two daughters kidnapped by Hamas. "We know that not all of the answers will make us happy. We want our children back, our boys and girls and families as soon as possible."
Some have been able to identify their loved ones on videos broadcast by Hamas from inside Gaza – such as the one of a frightened young boy being mocked by Palestinian boys for crying, or the one showing the apparently lifeless body of a naked, tattooed young woman. There is the video of an elderly woman, identified as 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, being driven into the enclave on Saturday – perhaps senile and clearly unaware of the danger she was in as she smiled at the crowd cheering her capture.
Then there are the five men filmed shackled to the floor in a dark room – possibly IDF soldiers, as Hamas claims to have taken members of the armed forces, including officers, hostage. Hamas itself has not yet publicly revealed how many hostages it has taken. Guarding them will involve a specialized group called the "shadow unit," created in 2006 and whose existence was revealed in 2016.
Ziyad Al-Nakhala, leader of a small allied group, Islamic Jihad, claimed on Sunday that his movement was holding more than 30 Israelis in Gaza. For these organizations, captives are a formidable instrument of leverage. They can use them as human shields around their leaders and their presence in Gaza in large numbers complicates the current phase of Israeli bombardment – 800 targets hit late on Sunday – as well as the next steps in the military escalation it has promised.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke briefly of their plight on Saturday evening, praying for them in his address to the nation: "I say to Hamas, you are responsible for their wellbeing. Israel will go after anyone who harms even a hair on their head." However, the Israeli press reports that a different message was delivered by finance minister and religious fundamentalist Bezalel Smotrich at a security cabinet meeting on Saturday: "We must be cruel now and not think too much about the hostages [in Gaza]. It's time to act." His office has not denied his remarks.
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