Three Israeli women hostages held Hamas in Gaza have been released on the first day of a long-awaited ceasefire deal with Israel.
Fifteen months after the 7 October 2023 attacks, Israel says that 91 of the 251 captives remain unaccounted for, although it believes only 57 of these are still alive.
A total of 120 hostages have now been freed from captivity, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals who were released as part of a previous deal between Israel and Hamas that saw a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.
Emily Damari, 28, who holds dual British-Israeli nationality, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She was one of the three Israeli women who became the first of the 33 hostages due to be released by Hamas under the ceasefire deal that took effect on 19 January 2025.
Doron Steinbrecher, 31, a Romanian-Israeli veterinary nurse, was in her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas attacked. At 10:30 on 7 October, she sent a voice message to friends: “They’ve arrived, they have me.” Doron was also freed on the first day of the new ceasefire.
The third woman to be released was Romi Gonen, 24, who was ambushed as she tried to escape from the Supernova festival.
On 27 August 2024, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said it rescued Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, a father of 11 and grandfather of one, in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip”. Mr Elkadi is from a Bedouin village in the Negev desert and had been working as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen when he was abducted.
The IDF rescued Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, in a daylight raid in central Gaza on 8 June 2024. The IDF said they were freed during a “high-risk, complex mission” from two separate buildings in the Nuseirat area. It happened as scores of Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in the same area.
Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were rescued during fighting in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on 12 February.
They had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak along with three other members of their family, all of whom were released in November 2023. They are Mia Leimberg, 17, her mother Gabriela, 59, and Mia’s aunt Clara Marman, 63.
Amit Soussana, 40, a lawyer, was at home with a fever when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Her family told the Times of Israel she had messaged to say she could hear shooting and was going to hide in her safe room.
Mia Schem, 21, holds dual French-Israeli nationality. She appeared in the first hostage video released by Hamas saying that she had been abducted from the Supernova festival.
Aisha Zyadna, 16, and her brother Bilal, 18, have been released, but their brother Hamza, and their father, Youssef, were killed in captivity, the IDF says.