Today, Monday (13 October), the 20 remaining Hamas hostages released were freed as part of the ceasefire agreement reached with Israel under the auspices of US President Donald Trump.
Around 08:00, the first seven Hamas hostages were released, followed by a second wave at 10:00.
Following the release of the hostages, Israel freed Palestinian detainees it had arrested and imprisoned. A total of 1,966 Palestinian prisoners slated for release boarded buses at Israeli prisons yesterday, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.
According to the same official, 1,716 Palestinians from Gaza who were held by Israel were released at Nasser Hospital in Gaza. A further 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons were released in the West Bank, Jerusalem and abroad, the official added, speaking to Reuters.
Israel: who are the 20 hostages released
Matan Angrest, 22
A non-commissioned officer, Matan Angrest was captured from his tank near the Gaza border after trying to halt the incursion near the Nahal Oz base. The other three crew members were killed, and the bodies of two remain in Gaza. In a video released by his family in April 2025, he is seen being abducted from his tank. Originally from Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel, he supports Maccabi Haifa. His family had planned a trip to Dubai to celebrate the end of his military service.
Gali and Ziv Berman, 28
Twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman were abducted from the youth neighbourhood of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which was set ablaze by Hamas fighters. Inseparable and working together in music production, they support Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool. Their parents and older brother survived the attack.
Elkana Bohbot, 36
One of the producers of the Nova festival, Elkana Bohbot worked alongside childhood friends Michael and Oser Waknin, who were killed on 7 October along with nearly 370 others at the techno event. Footage on the day of the attack showed him handcuffed, with facial injuries, being led away by abductors. He is married to an Israeli of Colombian origin and is the father of a boy; they lived in Mevaseret Zion near Jerusalem. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro granted him Colombian citizenship in November 2023. In mid-February 2025, his wife Rebecca González said she had received “proof of life” via Ohad Ben Ami, a former hostage freed on 8 February who had been held with her husband. Before his abduction, Bohbot was preparing to open an ice-cream shop at Tel Aviv’s market in mid-October 2023, his parents said. He appeared in a Hamas video in May with another hostage, Yosef Chaim Ohana, looking frail and lying under a blanket.
Rom Braslavsky, 21
From Jerusalem and a German national, Rom Braslavsky worked festival security at Nova. Between his last call to his mother at 10:30 and his disappearance at 13:30, witnesses say he helped many revellers. He was injured in both arms. In August 2025, Islamic Jihad released a video showing him speaking apparently under duress, looking severely weakened.
Nimrod Cohen, 21
Serving with an armoured unit near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Nimrod Cohen was “betrayed” by his own tank when faulty brakes immobilised it. He and three other crew members were pulled from the vehicle by attackers, according to Hamas footage. His comrades Omer Neutra, Oz Daniel and Sagi Dahan were killed on 7 October and their bodies taken into Gaza. From Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, his parents Yehuda and Vicky Cohen have attended all demonstrations demanding the hostages’ release. He always carried a Rubik’s Cube; the army returned one found partially burned in his tank, which his mother now keeps as a talisman.
David and Ariel Cunio, 35 and 28
Argentinian-Israeli brothers David and Ariel Cunio were abducted with extended family members while hiding in the safe room of David’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Attackers set the house on fire to force them out. Their family had one of the highest numbers of hostages (eight). David’s wife, Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34, their three-year-old twins, Sharon’s sister Danielle Aloni, 44, and her five-year-old daughter were released during the November 2023 truce. Ariel’s fiancée, Arbel Yehud, 28, was released on 30 January. Israeli director Tom Shoval premiered A Letter to David at Berlinale in February as a tribute to David Cunio. In 2013, David and his twin Eitan premiered Youth at the festival under Shoval’s direction. Eitan Cunio evaded Hamas by hiding in his Nir Oz shelter. The brothers share a tattoo of three small dark-green stars on their inner wrists. At the festival opening, director Tricia Tuttle and other filmmakers raised David’s photo on the red carpet. The documentary won the Ophir Award (Israel’s Oscars) for best documentary in September.
Eviatar David, 24
His parents learned he was a hostage from a photo on Telegram, where his face was lit by a torch. On 7 October he attended the Nova festival with childhood friend Guy Gilboa Dalai, who was also abducted and is believed to be alive in Gaza. From Kfar Saba in central Israel, he loved music and worked at a café to save for a trip to Thailand. In August 2025, Hamas released video showing him severely malnourished and visibly weakened.
Guy Gilboa Dalai, 24
Attending his first rave with three friends, he was abducted at Nova. His family quickly found video showing him and best friend Eviatar David with their hands tied in a Gaza tunnel. According to a hostage freed in an IDF operation in June, their captors mistreated them. In February, Hamas video showed the pair watching a staged hostage handover in Gaza before being forced into a car, pleading to be freed. On 5 September he appeared in Hamas video with fellow hostage Alon Ohel in a tunnel. A Japan enthusiast, he learned Japanese with hopes of travelling there. He worked in IT.
Maxim Herkin, 37
A Russian-Israeli from Tirat Carmel in northern Israel, and father to a five-year-old daughter living with her mother in Russia, he came to Israel with his mother from Ukraine. Before his abduction at Nova, he messaged her: “All good, heading back.” In spring 2025, Hamas’s armed wing released video showing him lying down with bandages on his head and left arm and brown stains visible.
Eitan Horn, 39
From Kfar Saba, he was abducted from his older brother Gair’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His diabetic brother was also abducted on 7 October and freed in February 2025. Before the brother’s release, the two were held together. The Horn family immigrated from Argentina years ago. An educator, Eitan worked for years in various youth movements, including a mission in Peru.
Segev Kalfon, 27
From Dimona in the south, he worked with his father at the family bakery in Arad, in the Negev. A childhood friend recounted how Segev was captured while hiding in a bush along Route 232 that connects kibbutzim near Gaza. A hostage freed in February said he had been held with Kalfon for a time, according to the family.
Bar Kuperstein, 23
Before being abducted at Nova, Bar stayed behind to help wounded revellers. A military medic off-duty that day, he was on the festival staff. Post-abduction videos showed him with bound hands. From Holon near Tel Aviv, he became de facto head of the family at 17 after an accident left his father Tal—an emergency rescue volunteer—disabled and unable to speak or move. Months ago, Tal managed to speak with difficulty and told AFP he wanted to surprise his son when he returned. Bar, who followed his father into rescue work, had saved his grandfather Michael Kuperstein’s life after a heart attack two months before 7 October 2023.
Omri Miran, 48
A massage therapist who also holds Hungarian citizenship, he was abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz in front of his wife Lichai Miran-Lavi and their two young daughters, who were left behind. His father Danny vowed not to shave until his son’s return after seeing an April 2024 Hamas video showing Omri with a beard, saying if his son cannot shave, neither will he. Speaking under apparent duress, Omri described a “difficult situation” due to “heavy Israeli bombardments” in Gaza, adding he hoped to reunite with family by Israel’s Independence Day on 14 May. He reappeared in another Hamas video on 23 April 2025.
Eitan Mor, 25
The eldest of eight in a religious family living in Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank, he was working festival security at Nova with friends. His father, Tzvika Mor, founded the Forum of Hope, a parents’ collective of hostages opposed to any deal with Hamas, urging greater military pressure to force Hamas to capitulate and free hostages. Eitan worked at a Jerusalem café and dreamed of opening his own restaurant. He stayed in touch with his parents despite distancing himself from religious observance.
Yosef Chaim Ohana, 25
From Kiryat Malakhi in the south, he hoped to study coaching. Abducted while bartending at Nova, he was seen helping the wounded before escaping with a friend. From a divorced family, he lost his brother Atser Yitzhak to cancer at age seven. He appeared in a Hamas video in May alongside Elkana Bohbot.
Alon Ohel, 24
A talented pianist, he was about to start studies at the prestigious Rimon School of Music in Ramat Hasharon. He had returned from travel in Asia a few weeks before being abducted at Nova. He was taken hostage from a shelter on Route 232 with three other young men. From Lavon village in northern Israel, he also holds Serbian and German citizenship. In February 2025, his family said they had received the first proof he was alive, via testimonies of recently freed detainees. “It’s clear Alon has lost vision in his right eye and appears skeletal and despondent,” his parents said after Hamas published video of him in September.
Avinatan Or, 32
The second of seven siblings in a religious family from the settlement of Shiloh in the occupied West Bank, he was in a relationship with Noa Argamani, abducted the same day at Nova and freed in an Israeli military operation in June 2024. The couple planned to settle in Beersheba, where he studied engineering. He also holds British citizenship.
Matan Zangauker, 25
Abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, he was taken along with his Israeli-Mexican partner, Iliana Gritzevsky, released on 30 November 2023, the last day of the first truce. Together with her partner’s mother, Einav Zangauker, she became a prominent face of the campaign to free hostages. In September 2025, Einav warned she would sue Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “murder” if her son was not returned alive. With divorced parents, Matan is passionate about numismatics and aeromodelling and worked at Nir Oz’s medical cannabis farm.
Also read: BREAKING: Hostage release begins under Gaza truce agreement
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