100 Days in Hell: Grim Milestone for Israel Hostages in Hamas Captivity

One hundred days — that’s how long more than 100 men, women and children have endured as hostages of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that attacked Israel on October 7.

Sunday's grim anniversary comes against the backdrop of continuing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which Israel began bombing in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks.

A brief truce and negotiations led to the release of 110 captives taken by Hamas militants during their early October raid. 

But others are still trapped — among them 10-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas, the last of the children still being held captive by Hamas.

The Messenger looked at what is known about the hostages still trapped in Gaza, and the latest efforts to bring them home. 

The numbers 

All told, the Israeli military estimates published this week put the number of hostages in Gaza at 132, a figure that includes 25 bodies of those who have been killed, according to the Times of Israel.

Almost all are Israeli, or dual nationals with Israeli citizenship, but the numbers also include 11 people with other passports — Nepal, Thailand and Tanzania among them — according to reports. 

Who are they 

The youngest among those still being held captive are the Bibas brothers. 

Others include 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is a dual Israeli and American citizen. His parents, now based in Jerusalem, are from Chicago.

For the last 100 days, his mother, Rachel Goldberg, been has been placing a piece of masking tape with the number of days since her son was taken captive on her chest—a tragic ritual that she asked others to join her in this weekend. 

“For 100 days, I have sadly had to repeat the same custom every morning, watching the numbers grow day after day as I tape them to my shirt,” Goldberg told The Times of Israel. “I don’t want to do this for one more day, but for as long as Hersh remains stolen, I will continue to tape the number of days he has been gone to my chest. I ask that for day 100 you join me, helping us continue to raise awareness.” 

Among the oldest of those still being held captive is Oded Lifshitz, an 83-year-old Israeli journalist and peace activist, whose wife, Yocheved, was freed by Hamas after being held in Gaza for 17 days. 

His wife has since spoken about her concern for his well being. “Oded suffered highs and lows in blood pressure, and he has a pre-existing lung illness, and I don’t know if he will be able to hold on over there,” she told NBC News in December. 

“The conditions over there, with no fresh air and after such a long period of time — I don’t know if there is enough oxygen over there for people with lung disease.” 

The state of negotiations 

It is this last concern—getting some medical support to the captives—that negotiators tried to address this past week, in negotiations between Israel and Hamas mediated by the Gulf state of Qatar to secure medicines for the hostages, as well as allow more medical aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that, following those discussions, medicines would be transferred to Israelis held hostage in Gaza “over the next few days,” according to the Haaretz newspaper. 

The state of talks to free the hostages remains unclear. Following Israeli strikes targeting a top Hamas official in Lebanon in early January, Qatar indicated that efforts to secure the release of the hostages had become more difficult. 

But there was more positive news from U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who, during his early January trip to the region, indicated that negotiations could still take place.

Asked directly by NBC News whether he had been “given any optimism or any hope that Hamas will negotiate for hostage releases despite those assassinations,” Blinken answered: “In short, yes.” 

“We’ve – as you know, we succeeded before in the midst of this conflict in getting more than a hundred hostages out, and it’s my – it’s my belief that they can and will engage on this, and that’s something we’re intensely focused on with Qatar and with Egypt.”