These hostages could soon return home after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement the first phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Celebrations erupt after Israel and Hamas agree to phase one deal
Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace deal. Celebrations erupt in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace deal aimed at ending the two-year conflict and releasing in the coming days a group of remaining Israeli hostages captured in an October 2023 terrorist attack.
A bipartisan agreement announced by President Donald Trump on October 8 calls for the release of Israeli hostages within 72 hours of the agreement in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The announcement did not give an official release date, but a senior White House official told USA TODAY that release of the hostages is likely to begin on October 13, but they could be returned sooner. On October 9, President Trump told a Cabinet meeting with his top advisers that the hostages could be released “on Monday or Tuesday” on October 13 or 14.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read out the names of the 20 hostages the government said were still alive. Among them are several music festival attendees, two sets of brothers, dual Israeli citizens, and two Israeli soldiers.
These are hostages who are believed to be still alive after more than two years in captivity.
Matan Angrest, 22 years old
Angrest, an Israeli Defense Forces soldier, was taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during an attack on October 7, 2023. His mother, Anat Anrest, is one of dozens of family members of the remaining hostages who have been outspoken in their advocacy for their release. In late September, she joined other hostages’ families in protesting in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem calling for a ceasefire.
“Our loved ones in Gaza are being shelled by the Israeli Defense Forces on the orders of the prime minister,” she said.
Gari Burman and Ziv Burman, 28 years old
The twin brothers were taken from Kfar Azha Kibbutz during the attack.
Their brother, Rylan Berman, told USA TODAY in November 2023 that they are fun-loving twins who light up every room they enter and have traveled the world for their work in the music industry.
Elkanah Beaubot, 36 years old
Bobot was taken from a music festival in Reims, southern Israel, and was the first to take several others in the October 7 attack, which also killed hundreds of other festival-goers.
According to an August post about X from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, he is survived by his wife, Rebecca, and a son. In March 2025, Hamas released a video showing Bobot and another hostage, Yosef Chaim Ohana, alive.
Rom Braslavski, 21 years old
Blaslavsky was working as a security guard at the Nova Music Festival when he was taken. The festival was held about five miles from the Gaza border and coincided with the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.
Nimrod Cohen, 20 years old
Cohen, an IDF soldier, was abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. He has a twin sister and enjoys gaming, music and traveling, according to the American Jewish Committee.
Ariel Cunio (28 years old) and David Cunio (35 years old)
Both brothers were kidnapped along with their partners from their home in Nir Oz, a rural area near the Gaza border.
Ariel Cunio and his partner Albel Yehud were taken away. Yehud was released on January 30 along with several other hostages. In a Sept. 5 Facebook post to the advocacy group Bring Them Home Now, he said their home was “our private paradise, and from that wonderful place we were brutally taken into the depths of hell in Gaza.”
David Cunio was kidnapped along with his wife Sharon Cunio and young twin daughters Yuri and Emma. Sharon Kunio and her daughters were released in November 2024.
Guy Gilboa Dalal, 24 years old
Guy Gilboa-Dala was taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival, where he and his brother Gal were attending. In the confusion, the two were separated.
“Time is passing in a very strange way,” Gall said in an October 6 article in the Guardian. “In some ways I feel like I was with him yesterday in Nova, and in some ways I feel like I haven’t seen my brother in over 100 years.”
Evyatar David, 24 years old
David is one of the members from the Nova Music Festival.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), along with several synagogues and Jewish organizations across Atlanta, “adopted” David’s case around May 2025 and advocated for his immediate release. Other members of Congress and Jewish organizations across the country have also chosen to highlight individual hostages by “adopting” them or meeting their families as part of a concerted effort to demand their release.
“Evyatar is 24 years old. He loves playing the guitar, loves his family and loves life,” Ossoff said in a statement.
Maxim Hertic, 37 years old
According to France 24 newspaper, Herkin is a dual Russian-Israeli citizen who immigrated to Israel from Ukraine with his mother.
The newspaper reported that before Harkin was taken from the Nova Festival, he wrote a letter to his mother saying, “Everything is fine. I’m going home.”
Etan Horn, 38 years old
According to the BBC, Horne is an Israeli of Argentine descent and worked as an educator before the attack. He was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his brother Yea Horn. Iea was released from confinement on February 15th.
Segev Calfon, 27 years old
Calfon was also attending a music festival when he was taken. The Times of Israel said he was the second of three children and was working as a production manager at a bakery and studying finance before his arrest.
The Century Abraham Barmat, 23 years old
Kuperstein was working as a bouncer at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group working to free all the hostages, said Kuperstein helped other victims survive the attack before being abducted by Hamas militants.
Omri Milan, 48 years old
Milan was abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, less than a mile from the Gaza border. He was separated from his wife, Rishay Milan Ravi, and their two daughters during a raid on their home and was captured by Hamas militants.
Eshitan Abraham Mor
Mol was also working as a security guard at the Nova Music Festival when we were kidnapped. He lived in Jerusalem before the attack and is one of eight children, the Times of Israel reported.
Joseph Chaim Ohana, 25 years old
Like many other hostages, Ohana was attending a music festival during the Hamas-led attack. According to Bring Them Home Now, he was born into a religious family and has two siblings.
Aron Orel, 24 years old
Oher, who has German, Serbian and Israeli nationality, was attending the Nova Music Festival at the time of the attack on October 7, 2023. The Times of Israel reports that he is a pianist and his family claims he is blind in one eye due to injuries sustained in the attack following a recent video released by Hamas.
Abinathan Oru, 32
Or being kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival with his girlfriend, Noah Algamani. After eight months in captivity, she was rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024.
women of the resurrection
Zangauker was captured with his girlfriend, Ilana Griszewski, who chronicled the incident in a May 2025 column for USA TODAY.
“A bullet went through the door, so we jumped out of the vault window. We ran in different directions. We lost sight of Matan,” she said. “After a while, I was captured.”
Griszewski was freed during a ceasefire in November 2023, but wrote in an op-ed for USA TODAY that he won’t be able to fully recover until Zangaukar is also freed.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml.
