When Hamas led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, about 250 people were taken to Gaza as hostages, including citizens of Israel, the United States, Britain, Mexico, Thailand, and other countries.

The prisoners included the bodies of 37 people killed in the attack, Israeli officials said. Now about 100 hostages, alive and dead, are still being held in the enclave, officials say.

The ceasefire agreement announced Wednesday between Israel and Hamas will begin an initial six-week phase that will include the release of 33 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The agreement has yet to be officially ratified by the Israeli government.

Here’s a closer look at the hostage situation in Gaza.

How many hostages have already been released?

At the beginning of the war, Hamas released four hostages – two Israeli-American womenJudith Raanan, then 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, then 17, and two Israeli womenNurit Cooper, then 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, then 85, citing humanitarian reasons. More than 100 hostages were released in November 2023 during gradual truce between Israel and Hamas. In exchange, about 240 Palestinians detained in Israel were released.

How many hostages were saved?

Eight hostages were freed in Israeli military operations, including one in the first month of the war, when the military saved a soldierPvt. Ori Megidish, then 19, who was abducted from her base.

In February 2024, a military operation in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza freed the two hostages: Fernando Simon Marman, then 60, and Louis Har, then 70.

In June, the Israeli army released four people abducted from Nova music festival October 10 September 7, 2023: Noah Argamani, then 26; Almog Meir Jan, then 22 years old; Andrej Kozlov, then 27 years old; and Shlomi Ziv, then 41. Mrs. The case of Argamani received a lot of attention after a viral video showed her being driven to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle as she screamed in despair.

About 100 Palestinians were killed during the operation, according to Israeli authorities, but officials in Gaza put the number of dead exceeded 270including 64 children. (No distinction was made between civilians and combatants in any number of victims.)

In August, the Israeli army saved Farhan al-Qadi, then 52, a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, in an operation that killed at least 20 Gazans, local authorities said.

How many hostages died?

Of the 250 hostages, about three dozen were presumed dead at the start of the war, according to Israeli authorities.

Some of their bodies have since been found in Gaza and repatriated, while other prisoners who were initially believed to be alive were later declared dead.

The revelations have raised questions about the extent to which Israel’s intense military operations are targeting Hamas threatened the prisoners.

The Israeli army killed several hostages by mistake. In December 2023, the military said its soldiers mistakenly fired i killed three hostages who escaped from their captors in Gaza: Yotam Haim, 28, and Alon Shamriz, 26, who were taken from Kibbutz Kfar Az; and Samer Talalka, 24, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Am while he was at work.

Last July, the Israeli army retrieved the bodies of the five hostages – two soldiers and three civilians, aged between 20 and 56. They were found in a tunnel shaft in southern Gaza.

Israeli officials said the prisoners were killed during the October 2023 raid and their bodies were used as bargaining chips. The following month, Israeli forces said they recovered the bodies of the six hostages in the Gaza tunnel.

In September, the Israeli military found the bodies of six more hostages, aged 23 to 40, who it said had been killed in captivity. He was among them Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American of Israeli origin whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August.

In March, Itaya Chen’s family – a 19-year-old Israeli-born American who served in the Israeli army – said it was learned he was killed on October 7, 2023.

In December, the family of Omer Neutra, 21, an Israeli-American serving in the Israeli army, said they learned that he too was killed that October. His parents spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.

This month, the Israeli army he said Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne were dead. Youssef Ziyadne, 53, was taken hostage from the kibbutz with three of his children, including his 23-year-old son Hamza and two teenagers, Bilal and Aisha, who released during the ceasefire in November 2023. The family is part of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority.

How many Americans are hostages?

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, speaking Tuesday, said seven Americans were still being held captive.

They were believed to be Edan Alexander and Sagui Dekel-Chen alive since December, according to the American Jewish Council.

Several of the remaining five were declared dead at the beginning of the war. Their bodies remain in Gaza.