Journalist, 83, among 126 confirmed hostages

Journalist, 83, among 126 confirmed hostages

- Lisa O'Carroll, Patrick Wintour

The Israeli military said yesterday that it had confirmed there were 126 people being held hostage by Hamas.

Authorities had initially estimated about 150 Israeli and foreign captives after Hamas launched its deadly 7 October attack. Israeli officials said the number of known hostages had been revised down after bodies from the Hamas attack sites in southern Israel were found and identified.

Among the hostages are the veteran Israeli journalist Oded Lifshitz, 83, who was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz with his 85-year-old partner, Yocheved.

He worked for decades for peace and the recognition of Palestinian rights. For many years he wrote in the leftwing newspaper Al HaMishmar and in 1972 was one of the leaders in the defence of the Bedouin residents of the Rafah basin who were expelled by the occupation authorities in Sinai.

He was also among the first journalists who arrived in Sabra and Shatila and reported on the massacre that took place in the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut in 1982.

Other hostages appear to have been taken from their homes in the Israeli border communities that were overrun by Palestinian gunmen. Some were believed to have been seized from a wooded area near the border where they had spent the night at a music festival.

Among those believed to be hostages are eight Germans, five US nationals, two Mexican nationals and scores of Israelis. The German government on Saturday reported "eight known cases" of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.