Number of Israeli hostages who have died in captivity rises to 20
Relatives and friends of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza gather for a rally in the center of Jerusalem on June 3, 2024. Photo by Saeed Qaq/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Israel Defense Forces’ announcement that two more male hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 are believed to be dead brings the tally of Israeli hostages who have died in captivity to at least 20, according to a tally by the Forward.
The IDF on Monday named the hostages as Alex Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtav and said that Hamas was holding their bodies.
The number of hostages who have died since being confirmed alive in Gaza does not include Shiri Bibas and her children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas — who were 4 and nine months respectively when Hamas terrorists abducted them — and whom Hamas said were killed Nov. 29 in an Israeli airstrike. Their deaths remain unconfirmed by Israel.
The number includes three hostages who were mistakenly shot dead by IDF soldiers in December and one, Sahar Baruch, who was killed in a failed IDF rescue mission.
The IDF has also rescued seven hostages: Ori Megidish, Louis Har and Fernando Marman during a raid in Rafah, and Almog Meir Jan, Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv during a raid in Nuseirat.
Israel has secured the release of 105 civilians in prisoner exchanges since the war started.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office now believes there are 120 hostages, living and dead, still being held in Gaza. The number includes the bodies of two soldiers who were abducted in 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
Below are the names of the 20 who have died in captivity since Oct. 7, and available details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths:
Arye Zalmanovich, 85
Zalmanovich, the second-oldest hostage, died in Hamas captivity, Kibbutz Nir Oz announced on Dec. 1. Zalmanovich had appeared in a video in mid-November looking ill.
Ofra Keidar, 70
Kibbutz Be’eri announced the death of Keidar on Dec. 1. It was unclear how or when she died. “Her body is in the hands of Hamas. We demand her return along with the other hostages,” the statement added.
Ronen Engel, 54
Engel, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was killed on Dec. 1, according to the IDF. It did not provide more details about the circumstances. His body is still being held in Gaza.
Ron Sherman, 19; Nik Beizer, 19
Hamas videos of Sherman, an Israeli soldier, showed him “whole and healthy” but bound in the back of a pickup truck, his mother said following the Oct. 7 attack. He and Beizer, another soldier kidnapped to Gaza, were confirmed dead by the IDF on Dec. 15.
Inbar Himan, 27
Himan, a Haifa resident, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival Oct. 7. Her family later received a video posted by Hamas on Telegram, showing Haiman looking bloody and beaten. The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum announced December 16 that she had been murdered in captivity by Hamas.
Sahar Baruch, 25
Baruch, a Kibbutz Be’eri resident, was killed on Dec. 7 in a failed IDF rescue operation, the army announced two days later.
Yotam Haim, 28; Samer Talalka, 22; Alon Shamriz, 26
Haim, Talalka and Shamriz were mistakenly killed by IDF soldiers in Gaza in mid-December. The hostages were not wearing shirts and were waving a white flag on a stick, but two were killed immediately, the official said. The third ran away “crying for help in Hebrew,” according to the IDF report. A commander called for a ceasefire, but a third burst of gunfire following the order killed the third hostage.
The IDF said the troops had mistakenly identified the men as a threat and called the incident “very tragic.”
Yossi Sharabi, 53
Sharabi, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, who appeared in a Jan. 14 Hamas propaganda video alongside fellow captives Noa Argamani and Itay Svirsky, was most likely killed as the result of an Israeli airstrike that month, an IDF investigation found. Sharabi is believed to have been in a building that collapsed after an adjacent building was hit by the military, The Times of Israel reported.
Itay Svirsky, 38
The IDF believes Svirsky, also of Kibbutz Be’eri, was murdered by his Hamas captors in January.
Elad Katzir, 47
Katzir, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, appeared in two videos during his captivity. The IDF believes he was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in mid-January and announced the recovery of Katzir’s body on April 6.
Yagev Buchshtav, 34
Buchshtav, who along with his wife Rimon Kirsht was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim, was pronounced dead by Hamas in a March 23 statement which said he died “as a result of a lack of medicine and food.” Kirsht had previously been released in a prisoner exchange.
Amiram Cooper, 84; Chaim Peri, 80; Yoram Metzger, 80; Nadav Popplewell, 51
The IDF said the four were likely killed together in the Khan Younis area several months ago while IDF forces were operating there.
Cooper, Metzger, and Peri, were all from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Popplewell, a dual British-Israeli citizen, was from Kibbutz Nirim. All four had appeared in Hamas videos prior to their deaths.
“I know that difficult questions will arise regarding the circumstances of the deaths,” Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said Monday. We are “looking into all possibilities, and we will present the findings as soon as possible.”
The Hostages Family Forum, which represents the families who have joined in protests urging the government of Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas, said the news of their deaths “should shake every citizen in the State of Israel and lead every leader to profound soul-searching.”
It called on the Israeli government to approve a deal that U.S. President Joe Biden said last week was an initiative of Netanyahu’s, and which would establish a temporary ceasefire and release elderly, wounded and child hostages immediately in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel.
“It is time to end this cycle of sacrifice and neglect,” its statement said. Their murder in captivity is a mark of disgrace and a sad reflection on the significance of delaying previous deals.”
Yagev Buchshtav, 35; Alex Dancyg, 75
Hamas reported the deaths of Dancyg, of Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Buchshtav in March, saying that Dancyg had died due to starvation and that Buchshtav had died from Israeli fire. The IDF said it confirmed the deaths after receiving new intelligence and was investigating the possibility that Israeli fire may have caused them. Buchshtav’s wife, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, was abducted with him from Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7 and was released in a hostage deal November 28.
“Yagev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said Monday, urging the Israeli government to reach a deal to release the rest of the hostages.
JTA contributed reporting.
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