Fifty-three days have passed since October 7, but nine children and adolescents are still being held captive by Hamas. After the first four groups were released in the hostage deal which included children, their mothers, and elderly women, on Tuesday, a girl, her mother, and eight other women were released - some of them relatively young.
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In these five groups, a total of 61 Israelis, 19 Thai nationals, and one Filipino national have been released so far. The total number of Israeli captives held by Hamas now stands at 146. These are the children and youths who are still in captivity:
Liam Or, 18, from Ra'anana, is the cousin of Noam and Alma Or, who were released in the second group. The two were released from captivity, but their father, Dror, remains in Gaza. Their mother, Yonat, was murdered in the attack in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
Brothers Ariel, 4, and 10-month-old Kfir Bibas were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz together with their mother Shiri, and their father Yarden. Prior to the fifth round of releases, the Bibas family learned that their loved ones would not be released.
Following the announcement, hundreds of people arrived with orange balloons to a demonstration in support of the family. "We’re happy for all the families who have united with their loved ones. We won’t stop the fight to bring them back home. Thank you all for your support," the family said.
Itay Regev, 18, from Herzliya, was abducted from the music festival near Re’im, and is the brother of Maya Regev, who was released in the second group of releases. Both were at the party together from which they were abducted into Gaza. Due to Maya's complex medical condition, she was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in moderate condition.
Her brother Itay remains in captivity with their good friend, Omer Shem Tov, who was with them at the party. After the fifth group was released, Itay’s mother, Miri, said, "My heart is torn because my son Itay is still in Hamas captivity in Gaza. We won't stop until Itay and all of the captives return home."
Ofir Engel, 17, from Ramat Rachel, visited his friend Yuval Sharabi at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. When the terrorists broke into the family's home, they separated the women and men and took them captive.
Ofir's grandfather, Yosef, said, "We hope he’ll come home today. We’ve been anxiously waiting for 53 days since that Saturday. The terrorists took the entire family out of the house. They loaded the sons onto a car and left the daughters in their homes. Yuval wanted to hold Ofir's hand and go up with him to the car – but the terrorist pushed her away."
Ofir’s mother took the girl and hid until IDF forces arrived to rescue them. "After 53 days of anticipation, this is inhumane. Every night we hope he’ll be on the list - I hope to receive a message saying he’s coming home tonight. I have very high expectations. Thanks to Ofir's Dutch citizenship, I know that the Dutch government is making great efforts to try to resolve it,” Yosef added.
Amit Shani, 16, from Be’eri, was abducted in front of his mother and sisters who survived the massacre in the kibbutz. Gali Tarshansky, 13, from Be’eri, was abducted by Hamas terrorists, and her brother, 15-year-old Lior was murdered.
Brothers Aisha, 17, and Bilal, 18, Ziyadne were abducted from Holit together with their older brother, Hamza, and their father, Yousef. The family’s relative on Tuesday said, "We wait every day expecting to hear one of them would be returning, but unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet. We have no information about their condition; we’re all anxious and demand that they be included in the upcoming deal."
Yousef Ziyadne’s brother, Ali, told in an interview with Ynet about the hope for the family’s return. "We’re disappointed that none of them has been released in one of the five groups released so far. We received the list last night, and realized they weren’t there.”
“We all hope they’ll be released in the next group. Aisha, who’s 16 and a half years old, and Bilal, her 18-year-old brother, are included in the category of captives to be released in the agreement between Israel and Hamas, but for some reason, our children have not yet been released. We hope for the best and want to remain optimistic, but we’re afraid that the deal, will end, and our children won’t return home."