Gaza war hostage crisis in the context of "Hostage"

The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Since the start of the Israeli offensive that followed, over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, almost half of them women and children, and more than 170,000 injured. A study in The Lancet estimated that traumatic injury deaths were undercounted and noting a potentially larger death toll when "indirect" deaths are included.

After clearing militants from its territory, Israel launched a bombing campaign and invaded Gaza on 27 October. The Israeli Defense Forces launched numerous campaigns, including the Rafah offensive from May, three battles fought around Khan Yunis, and the siege of North Gaza from October, culminating in a 2025 offensive in Gaza City; and have assassinated Hamas leaders in and outside Gaza. A temporary ceasefire in November 2023 broke down, and a second ceasefire in January 2025 ended with a surprise attack by Israel in March. A third ceasefire came into effect on 10 October after Israel and Hamas agreed to phase one of a US-backed peace plan. On 19 October, after alleged Hamas violations, Israel briefly resumed bombing Gaza before reaffirming the ceasefire the same day, doing the same on 28 October.

The ongoing Gaza war has been marked by widespread violence against both Israeli and Palestinian women, including reports of rape and sexual violence against Israeli women by Hamas and affiliated militants during the October 7 attacks, and reports of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian women by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). At the same time, women have taken on roles as combatants, leadership partners, and participants in informational campaigns.

Following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, there were testimonies and videos indicating that Hamas employed methods of severe torture, including violence and sexual violence against Israeli women and children. Close to 100 Israeli women were taken hostage and held in the Gaza Strip, leading to efforts by Israeli women and organizations to raise awareness and promote their release. The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and UN Women condemned the gender-based violence against Israeli women during the attacks.

On 20 August 2025, during the Gaza war, Israel announced it had formally begun the "first stages" of a military offensive aiming to seize control of Gaza City from Hamas, referred to in plans as Operation Gideon's Chariots II or Operation Gideon's Chariots B (Hebrew: מבצע מרכבות גדעון ב', romanized: Mivtza Merkavat Gid'on B'). These early stages were superseded by an expanded main offensive that began on 15 September. Israel framed the offensive as a continuation or a second part of Operation Gideon's Chariots, which lasted from 16 May to 4 August 2025.

Hamas announced a counteroffensive titled Operation Moses' Staff in response to the Israeli operations. It also reportedly transferred Israeli hostages to combat zones in Gaza City, where they were intended to be used as human shields.

A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 24 November 2023 to 30 November 2023, during the Gaza war.

The initial agreement, mediated by Qatar, stipulated a four-day break in fighting during which 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel were to be released and more humanitarian aid will be allowed to enter Gaza, with the ceasefire subject to extension providing additional hostages are released. On 27 November, Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a two-day extension to the ceasefire was agreed in which 20 Israelis and 60 Palestinians would be released. Close to the end of the first extension, on 30 November, another one day extension to the truce was agreed upon by both sides. The mediators in Qatar and in Egypt reported they worked to negotiate a further extension of the truce.

A hostages-and-prisoners exchange and armistice between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 19 January to 18 March 2025, during the Gaza war. It included eight rounds of hostages-and-prisoners exchanges between Israel and Hamas.

The initial proposal was a serial initiative in three stages, beginning with a six-week ceasefire and including the release of all Israelis being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians being held by Israel, an end to the war, Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and a reconstruction process that would last from three to five years. The proposal was first drafted by mediators from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, accepted by Hamas on 5 May 2024, and presented by U.S. president Joe Biden on 31 May. On 10 June, the United Nations Security Council supported it as Resolution 2735. Later in 2024, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was accused of hindering the proposal while some US officials accused Hamas of the same. After he was elected, United States president-elect Donald Trump joined Biden in pressuring the Israeli side to accept a similar proposal. A variation of the proposal was agreed to by Israel and Hamas on 15 January 2025. On 17 January, the deal was signed by its negotiators, and it was approved by the Israeli security cabinet and later the full Israeli cabinet.

In the early hours of 18 March 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively ending the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire. Israel's missile and artillery attack killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children according to the Gaza Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest in the Gaza war. Codenamed Operation Might and Sword (Hebrew: מבצע עוז וחרב, Mivtza Oz VaḤerev) by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it was carried out in coordination with the United States. The next day, the Israeli military announced that it was conducting a ground offensive to retake the Netzarim Corridor, from which it had withdrawn in February.

On 17 January, a deal for a 42-day ceasefire was achieved, with the deal, which also calls for the release of Israeli hostages, then being approved by Israel's security cabinet in an afternoon vote. Later in the day, the deal was given full cabinet approval and signed by its negotiators. Under the agreement, all Israeli hostages would be released by the end of the second phase and the Gaza war would permanently end. After the first phase ended on 1 March, Hamas intended to move to the second phase of negotiations – as envisioned in the original ceasefire deal – while Netanyahu and the Trump administration insisted on renegotiating the overall terms. Israel also refused to withdraw from sites in the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that it had agreed to do so in the ceasefire agreement. Further, during the ceasefire, Israel killed more than 140 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In March, Israel prevented all food and medicine from entering Gaza; later it shut off electricity to the Gaza Strip's main desalination plant, effectively cutting off water. These actions have been deemed war crimes by aid organizations and human rights organizations, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International.

The Gaza war has sparked protests, demonstrations, and vigils around the world. These protests focused on a variety of issues related to the conflict, including demands for a ceasefire, an end to the Israeli blockade and occupation, return of Israeli hostages, protesting war crimes, ending US support for Israel and providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since the war began on 7 October 2023, the death toll has exceeded 60,000.

Some of the protests have resulted in violence and accusations of antisemitism and anti-Palestinianism. In some European countries, and Palestine itself, protestors were criminalized, with countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Hungary restricting pro-Palestinian political speech, while the Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that Hamas in Gaza tortured and executed anti-Hamas demonstrators. The conflict also sparked large protests at Israeli and U.S. embassies around the world.

On 7 October 2023, around 250 Hamas and other Palestinian militants attacked Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz (cooperative community) about 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from the border with the Gaza Strip, massacring residents and abducting hostages. It took two days for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to regain full control of the area, by which point at least 62 residents had been killed, while a further 19 were taken hostage.

The attack quickly gained notoriety as a result of war crimes documented by survivor testimonies, forensic evidence, and captured militants footage. Hamas militants engaged in several violations of combatant distinctions under international law, including shooting civilians taking shelter in safe rooms, sexually assaulting hostages,. Militants dismembered or beheaded victims using implements including garden hoes, while others were shot inside their homes or burned alive.

On 9 October 2023, Israel intensified its blockade of the Gaza Strip when it announced a "total blockade", blocking the entry of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity after the October 7 attacks and the ensuing Gaza war. The blockade has been credited with contributing significantly to the Gaza genocide. Israel has conditioned its lifting of the blockade with the return of the hostages abducted by Hamas, which has been criticized as collective punishment and an apparent war crime. As of August 2025, 27 European countries and over 100 international aid organizations have called for an end to Israel's blockade of aid into Gaza.

A few weeks after 9 October 2023, Israel eased the complete blockade, but still continued to severely restrict the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip. The first supplies entered on 21 October 2023. The blockade exacerbated Gaza's humanitarian crisis. In January 2024, Israeli authorities blocked 56% of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. On 9 February 2024, UNRWA's director Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel had blocked food for 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza.