Netanyahu: About 50 of the 97 hostages in Gaza are alive

The Prime Minister of Israel estimates that some 50 hostages remain alive in . About 50 of the 97 still being held by Palestinian armed organizations in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023 are still alive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said, according to reports from the Israeli press. Netanyahu reportedly made this assessment during a meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, the Israeli Parliament, reportedly media. There has been no official confirmation of this information, the meeting was held behind closed doors. Of the 251 people kidnapped during the unprecedented raid of the Hamas military arm and those of other Palestinian movements in southern Israel, 97 continue to be in the hands of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, but 33 have been declared dead by the Israeli army. During a week’s ceasefire, agreed and implemented at the end of November, Palestinian armed movements released 105 hostages, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners at Israeli detention centers. Since then, indirect negotiations for a new ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners have proved fruitless. Fewer than ten hostages have been released into Israeli military operations, several others have been recalled dead. During the October attack 1,205 people were killed on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to a count based on official data from the Israeli authorities, including hostages killed while being detained. In large-scale Israeli military retaliation operations have since lost their lives at least 41.431 Palestinians in the small seaside enclave under siege, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, whose numbers are considered reliable by the UN. Source: RES-AE