New York Times report spotlights Gaza fighting’s deadly consequences for hostages

The New York Times calls attention to the Israel-Hamas war’s cost on the lives of hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023, amid talk that fighting may renew in the Gaza Strip.

Thirty-seven hostages have been killed since being captured, and it is unclear why the report puts the number at 41.

The report does not detail how each hostage was killed, but says some were killed by Hamas, some by Israeli fire, while the causes were unknown for others.

Two Israeli officials tell The Times that a few of the captives were definitely killed in the first few days of the war, which was sparked by the massacre, but that many others were killed following a week-long hostage-truce deal in November 2023, when the terror group freed 105 civilians.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas has so far released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire that began in January.

Four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war. Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.

The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas and is counted among the 59 hostages.