The Israeli hostages set to be released under Gaza ceasefire deal

Gali Berman and Ziv Berman, 28

The fraternal twins were taken from their homes in kibbutz Kfar Aza, on the border with Gaza, during the October 7 attack. Seventeen others were also abducted from Kfar Aza, but the Berman twins are the only hostages from the kibbutz who remain in captivity. The family has heard from  hostages who returned in a previous deal  that, as of February, the brothers were alive but being held separately. Liran Berman, their older brother, said it’s the longest the two have ever spent apart. In Kfar Aza, the twins lived in apartments across from each other. Gali is more outgoing, while Ziv is more reserved and shy with a sharp sense of humour, their brother said.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24

Guy Gilboa-Dalal was among those abducted from the Nova music festival, while his brother managed to escape.

In the past year, he’s appeared in two videos released by Hamas. In one, he appears alongside his childhood friend, David, with militants filming them pleading for their freedom in a vehicle while they watch three other hostages on stage being released to the Red Cross.

Eitan Mor, 25

Eitan Mor was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival, where he helped evacuate people injured in the attack. Mor’s parents helped found the Tikva Forum, a loosely organised group of hostage families.

They advocated for military pressure, not an immediate ceasefire or hostage release deal, as the best chance for bringing the hostages home. That stance has put Mor’s father at odds with many of the other families of hostages.

Alon Ohel, 24

Alon Ohel, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, was kidnapped at the Nova music festival from a mobile bomb shelter along with  Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed  in captivity in August 2024. Ohel is talented pianist, and his family have placed pianos across Israel and several sites around the world to raise awareness of his plight.

Three other hostages who had been held with Ohel for more than a year were released during the previous ceasefire, including Eli Sharabi, who said Ohel was like his adopted son. Sharabi said they were kept chained for the entire period of their captivity and subsisted on a moldy pita per day. Ohel has shrapnel in his eye from the attack on the bomb shelter and his family is worried he may be partially blind.

Omri Miran, 48

Omri Miran was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz. During the attack, militants held his family, including his two daughters, aged two and six months, hostage in the kitchen of a neighbour’s house and then broadcast it on Facebook Live.

Miran and the father of the other family, Tsachi Idan, were kidnapped. Idan’s body was released  during the last hostage exchange after he was killed in captivity.

Lishay Miran Lavi, Miran’s wife, said their younger daughter knows “Daddy Omri” only through photos and videos, and doesn’t really understand what a father is.

Remaining hostages on Hamas list, to be released later on Monday

Maksym Harkin, 37

Maksym Harkin was abducted from Nova, which was the first festival he had ever attended, according to his family.

Harkin was born in Ukraine and moved to Israel with his family, where he lived in Tirat HaCarmel in the north. He has a three-year-old daughter and was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. Just before he was taken, his mother said he sent a final text message that said, “I love you”. In July, Hamas released a video of him filmed under duress several months prior.

Elkana Bohbot, 36

Elkana Bohbot was kidnapped from the Nova music festival.

In the past year, Hamas has published multiple videos of Bohbot, filmed under duress, including one where he has a fake telephone conversation with his wife, Rivka; their son, Reem; his mother and his brother – pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza.

His son made binoculars in kindergarten which he often uses to go out and “look for his father,” according to Bohbot’s mother, Ruhama.

Rom Braslavski, 21

Braslavski was working as a security guard at the Nova festival. He attempted to help festival-goers evacuate and was wounded in both hands before being kidnapped, witnesses said.

In August, the Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of a skeletal Braslavski sobbing and pleading for his life, adding that injuries to his foot prevent him from standing.

The videos of Braslavski and Evyatar David digging his own grave horrified Israelis, sparking some of the largest attendance in months at weekly protests. His father, Ofir, said Rom is usually a strong, happy-go-lucky kid, and that video is the first time he’s seen his son cry.

Nimrod Cohen, 21

Nimrod Cohen was kidnapped from a tank where he was stationed as a soldier in southern Israel. Cohen is obsessed with Rubik’s Cubes, his family said, and a burned Rubik’s Cube was found in the tank he was abducted from.

This year, his mother, Viki Cohen, illustrated a Passover haggadah, the text laying out the rituals and story recited during the Passover holiday, in honour of hostages, partly because her family has stopped celebrating holidays since the attack.

“We don’t gather as a family, because it reminds us how much he is missing,” Cohen said. The only time the extended family gathers is at protests, she said.

Ariel Cunio, 28

The youngest of four Cunio brothers, Ariel was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud, and her brother, Dolev, a married father of four who was later killed in captivity.

According to news reports, Cunio and Yehoud had returned from an extended trip to South America weeks before the attack and had just adopted a puppy.

Yehoud was released during the ceasefire in January.

David Cunio, 35

David Cunio, brother of Ariel Cunio, was kidnapped with his wife, Sharon, and their three-year-old twins from the Nir Oz kibbutz.

Sharon’s sister, Danielle, and her five-year-old daughter, who were visiting, were also kidnapped. All were released in November, except for David Cunio.

In July, Sharon shared a photo of the twins marking their fifth birthday, their second without their father, writing on Facebook that the girls have changed so much while he’s been in captivity that “they’re not the same little girls he knew.”

Evyatar David, 24

Evyatar David was taken hostage at the Nova music festival along with his childhood friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

In August, Hamas released a video of David, gaunt and pale, who said he was digging his own grave.

The condition of the hostages in the videos horrified Israelis and led tens of thousands of protesters to take to the streets and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly hostage protests in months.

Eitan Horn, 38

Eitan Horn, originally from Kfar Saba, was visiting his brother Iair at the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7. Both were kidnapped. For most of the war, the two were held with three other hostages in a filthy cell underground.

In early February, militants filmed the emotional interaction between the brothers as they were told that Iair would be released and Eitan would stay in Gaza.

Since his release, Iair Horn has campaigned for his brother and the other hostages, flying frequently to the United States and meeting with politicians.

Segev Kalfon, 27

Segev Kalfon was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was last seen attempting to flee militants along the highway. Before the attack, he worked at his family’s bakery in Dimona, in southern Israeli.

The middle child of three, Kalfon had recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, a condition his family has highlighted in urging his release. Kalfon’s family received a sign of life from him after the last ceasefire, when some of the hostages said they were held with him for months.

Kalfon’s family has focused on religious rituals in their fight for his release, including travelling to the grave of prominent rabbis and dedicating a Torah scroll in his honour.

Bar Kupershtein, 23

Bar Kupershtein was working at the Nova festival as a security guard when he was abducted. Witnesses said Kupershtein stayed at the festival to try to provide first aid to people who had been shot and injured.

Kupershtein was the main financial support for his family after his father was severely injured in an accident several years ago, his aunt, Ora Rubinstein, told reporters.

She said that his father worked with a physical therapist to regain the ability to speak, so he could meet with politicians to advocate for his son’s release. He has told the family that he will walk again when his son comes home, she said.

Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25

Yosef-Chaim Ohana was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a bartender.

Witnesses saw him attempting to help others escape before he was kidnapped.

He is the oldest of three brothers, one of whom previously died from an illness.

Avinatan Or, 32

Avinatan Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival along with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024.

On October 7, Hamas released a video of the pair that has become one of the most well-known recordings from that day.

It showed Argamani on an all-terrain vehicle crying, “Don’t kill me!” and reaching out her arms to Or, who is being marched away from her by militants. Or worked in tech in Tel Aviv before his abduction.

Matan Zangauker, 25

Matan Zangauker was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky. The two met while working on a medical cannabis farm there.

Gritzewsky was released after 55 days and has since advocated tirelessly for Zangauker’s release, wearing his hat which she rescued from their burnt home.

His mother, Einav, has been a constant presence at protests, giving impassioned speeches and even being hoisted in a cage above the crowd to draw attention to the hostages’ plight. Zangauker, who said she was previously a Netanyahu supporter, has emerged as one of his harshest critics.

Hostages whose fate is unknown

Bipin Joshi, 24

Bipin Joshi arrived in Israel from his native Nepal a month before the attack. He is the only non-Israeli hostage believed to be alive in Gaza. He came to Israel on a student exchange to work and study agriculture at kibbutz Alumim on the Gaza border. Ten of the 17 Nepali students in the program were killed during the attack. Joshi, who was able to throw a number of live grenades out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, was injured and kidnapped.

Joshi’s sister, 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi, regularly travels eight hours each direction on buses to Kathmandu from her home in western Nepal to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release. In August, his family travelled to Israel to meet with President Isaac Herzog and join families demonstrating in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.

Tamir Nimrodi, 20

Tamir Nimrodi was kidnapped from Erez, a crossing on the northern border of Gaza that had been the main route for people entering and leaving the territory. He had been serving with the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nimrodi was kidnapped with two other soldiers by militants who walked them to the Gaza gate and forced them to cross. Israel confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers who were kidnapped with Nimrodi.

There has been no sign of life from Nimrodi in the two years since he was seen in footage walking into Gaza in shorts and a T-shirt without his glasses. Herut Nimrodi, his mother, has said she doesn’t know what is worse: to think he has been killed in captivity, or that he’s alive but being held in terrible conditions. “I’m scared to even imagine,” she said.

AP