The remaining 20 hostages abducted by Hamas in the October 7 attack were released on October 13 as part of a fragile ceasefire agreement with Israel brokered by the United States.
Following this breakthrough, many European journalists, commentators and social media users made the claim that “not a single woman” survived the “horror” of confinement in numerous posts shared on X, with one publication garnering more than 8 million views.
The remaining 20 living hostages released from Gaza are all male, as specified in a list published by Hamas and compiled by the Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum.
However, the claims shared on social media are misleading as they ignore the fact that women, civilians and children have been given priority in the ongoing hostage trade.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas took 251 hostages from Israel to Gaza, 37 of whom were under the age of 18. A total of 51 participants were female and 200 were male.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the difficulty of making “difficult decisions between difficult choices and even more difficult choices.” in November 2023 Hostage negotiations underway.
At that time, all of the hostages released so far were women.
“Efforts are continuing to bring everyone home, and at this moment we are able to achieve the release of infants, children, mothers and women with swords to their necks,” Netanyahu added.
Media reports, official communications from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli government provide a detailed timeline of successive releases of female hostages.
On June 22, the Israeli government announced that 49 of the 251 people kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, including one woman, remain in captivity.
On October 15, the body of the last female hostage was returned to Israel after being identified by forensic experts.
Online posts claiming that no female hostages survived in Gaza are misleading, but many refer to the sexual violence experienced by women on October 7 and by other captive hostages.
In July, the Dyna Project released a report containing first-hand accounts from 15 former hostages, including one who was allegedly the victim of an attempted rape on October 7.
As part of the agreement, Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on October 13 in exchange for releasing 20 living hostages.
Palestinian militants have so far released the bodies of 13 hostages, and Israeli authorities confirmed Tuesday morning that the body returned Monday night has been identified as hostage Tal Haymi.
However, the ceasefire agreement remains unstable. Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble left behind by two years of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has accused extremists of holding back and threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all the remains are not returned.
On Sunday, the Israeli military accused Palestinian militants of firing on troops in the Israeli-controlled Rafah area of southern Gaza, along an agreed cease-fire line, killing two Israeli soldiers.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Israeli retaliatory attacks had killed 45 Palestinians, bringing the total to 80 since the ceasefire took effect.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war between Israel and Hamas.
Nevertheless, US President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the ceasefire agreement was still on track, and Vice President J.D. Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to strengthen the agreement.
