October 7 attack: One year later, how many Israelis are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza?

Israel on Monday marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror attack, the worst of its kind the country has experienced in its history. Residents of Tel Aviv gathered at Dizengoff Square to mark the first anniversary of?October 7, which left over 1,200 people killed and took around 250 hostages.??

CREDIT: REUTERS

One year of?October 7 attack

Following the Hamas terror attack, which involved an air and ground incursion into Israel, the Israeli government declared war on the Palestinian militant group, which continues to this day. The war has also expanded to other fronts, including Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, from where other Iran-backed Palestinian militias operate.??

While the much better-armed IDF has been able to inflict heavy damage on Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran's IRGC, and other parties involved, one year on, it has still not been able to achieve one of its key goals.??

CREDIT: REUTERS

Israelis taken hostage by Hamas

Out of the 254 people, mostly those attending the Nova music festival in the Re’im forest of Southern Israel,?that Hamas took hostage on October 7, 2023, only 117 have been returned alive to Israel. An estimated 101 hostages, including 7 Americans, still remain in the captivity of Hamas in Gaza. In August 2024, the IDF confirmed that 35 of the hostages taken on October 7 are known to have died.??

Also read:?'Suddenly, you’d hear someone getting beaten...': Israeli man held captive by Hamas for eight months recalls

What?Netanyahu said

Despite making significant progress in the war in Gaza and the West Bank, the safe return of the hostages remains a challenge for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.??

On Monday pm Netanyahu vowed to bring back all hostages.??

"On this day, in this place, and in many places across our country, we remember our dead, our hostages, whom we are obligated to bring back, and our heroes who fell in defence of the homeland and the nation. We went through a terrible massacre a year ago," Netanyahu said in a statement.??

CREDIT: REUTERS

Guterres calls for release of hostages

On the first anniversary of the October?7 attack, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for peace and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all?hostages.

For more news and current affairs?from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.