Israel-Hamas war latest update: The Israel Defence Forces or IDF Monday said that 199 people are being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza, revising up the earlier number of 155 it gave yesterday. Addressing a media briefing, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the Israeli military has “updated the families” of all hostages.
Hamas militants had killed more than 1,300 people, including women, children and foreign nationals and kidnapped 199 people during their brutal invasion in Israel on October 7.
Hamas has claimed that 22 hostages have been killed in Israeli air strikes since their brutal attack. However, Israel has rejected their earlier claim and said that it has its own information.
Hagari said the IDF also has some information about the location where hostages are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that they are managing their attacks accordingly.
“We are making valiant efforts to try to understand where the hostages are in Gaza, and we have such information,” the IDF spokesperson said in response to a question at a press conference. “We will not carry out an attack that would endanger our people,” he added.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met family members of the hostages and assured them that efforts are being made to ensure their safe evacuation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Health Ministry has informed that as of October 16, at least 351 wounded people are undergoing treatment in several hospitals.
Of them, 89 are said to be in serious condition, 181 are in moderate condition, and 81 are in soon to be discharged. A total of 3,968 sustained injuries during the deadly October 7 terrorist attacks.