- The figure is based on intelligence information collected by Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency.
- British citizens Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Emily Damari, 27, remain hostages.
- Security source: “We cannot negotiate corpses for thousands of terrorists”
Last night fears were growing that only 40 of the 133 hostages held by Hamas were still alive.
The figure is based on intelligence information collected by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, which followed the October 7 massacre, when Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages from southern Israel to Loop.
A source said: ‘[Intelligence] It is much easier to access than before October 7, when we had limited access to Gaza and did not have many sources.
“The situation is completely different because we are there.”
Israel’s retaliation to the attack has left 33,000 Palestinians dead, the terrorist group claims.
Among the hostages held captive by Hamas is British citizen Nadav Popplewell, 51.
Israel says 14,000 of them were Hamas operatives.
Two of the hostages are British citizens, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Emily Damari, 27.
So far 112 hostages have been returned alive to Israel.
Of those, 105 were released as part of a swap last year. Before that, Hamas released four prisoners, while three more were rescued by the Israel Defense Forces.
The source added: “Hamas is trying to keep everything secret.” . . They will never release all the hostages and corpses.
Another security source said: ‘Negotiating is a lost cause. “We cannot negotiate corpses for the release of hundreds or thousands more terrorists.”
Yehonatan Sabban of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said: “The hostages in Gaza are running out of time.”
Some of the hostages are still missing (all from the left). Front row: Avinatan Or, 30; Kfir Bibas, 1; Carmelo Gat, 39 years old; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Doron Steinbrecher, 31 years old. Second row: Dror Or, 49 years old; Zahar Baruch, 24 years old; Agam Berger, 19 years old; Noa Argamani, 26 years old; Gali Berman, 26 years old. Third row: Liri Albag, 19 years old; Yosef Ohana, 24 years old; Hamza Alzayadni, 22 years old; Eitan Horn, 37 years old; Daniela Gilboa, 19. Fourth row: Ariel Bibas, 4; Ömer Wenkert, 22 years old; Karina Ariev, 19 years old; Yair Horn, 45 years old; Edan Alexander, 20 years old. Fifth row: Romi Gonen, 23 years old; Yosef Alzayadni, 53 years old; Guy Illouz, 26 years old; Naama Levy, 19 years old; Eden Yerushalmi, 24 years old. Sixth row: Ziv Berman, 26 years old; Amit Esther Buskila, 28; Tamir Adar, 38 years old; Gad Haggai, 73; Alón Ohel, 23 years old