Hostage

With new players and old alliances, Israel’s post-October 7 political map takes shape

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Two significant political developments played out this week as Israel moves towards elections. Gadi Eisenkot and Yonatan Shamriz took the reflectors with key announcements.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett seen with Gadi Eisenkot during a march in support of the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the IDF, from the entrance of Jerusalem to the Knesset, January 15, 2026
Former hostage Emily Damari and her girlfriend, social media influencer Danielle Amit.

Emily Damari proposes to girlfriend Danielle Amit at event marking a year since release from Hamas

Ashgara Mengistu, Avera Mengitsu's brother, is missing.

Brother of former hostage Avera Mengitsu missing, police ask public for help with search

Posters of Ran Gvili, whose body is still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, seen at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. December 02, 2025.

Trump says US knows where Ran Gvili's remains are located


Abductors kill priest in Nigeria after a month in captivity, church leader says

Archbishop Henry Ndakuba said Venerable Edwin Achi, seized with his wife and daughter from their home in Kaduna state on October 28, was murdered after spending about a month in captivity.

An interior view of the Christ Apostolic Church, the day after an attack by gunmen in which people were killed and the pastor and some worshippers kidnapped, in the town of Eruku, Kwara state, Nigeria, November 19, 2025.

Knesset rejects opposition bill proposing grant of four million shekels for released hostages

The Hostages and Missing Families forum expressed deep disappointment over the decision, arguing that it showed how the government is shirking its responsibility.

Former hostages Rom Braslavski and Nimrod Cohen speak alongside family members of hostages still held by Hamas at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, November 8, 2025

Hamas hands over slain hostage, Ukraine accepts peace proposal - November 25, 2025

The Jerusalem Post's must-listen news roundup with Shifra Jacobs—the top stories, clear and concise. 

Red Cross personnel wait to head towards an area within the "yellow line" to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire, as Hamas says it continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages seized during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2025.

Gaza terrorists demanded ransom for release of captive family in 2023, father reveals

"They were all taken very seriously. One very specific one was taken seriously. Which, in the end, was refuted," said Yoni Asher, father of freed Gaza hostages Raz and Aviv.

Yoni Asher adresses the International media in Tel Aviv, November 03, 2023.

Palestinian activists copy Israeli ‘Bring them home’ hostage campaign with ribbons, posters

“Release all Palestinian Hostages,” read the banner hung by pro-Palestinian activists, complete with a red ribbon similar to the yellow one used by the Hostages Forum.

Greta Thunberg shared the pro-Palestinian "Bring Them Home" campaign.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims to have found Gaza hostage remains in central Gaza Strip

An earlier report by Qatari outlet Al Jazeera claimed that PIJ found hostage remains north of Nuseirat.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. January 30, 2025.

Beaten by civilians, sexual assaults and starvation: Guy Gilboa-Dalal opens up about captivity

Former hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal recounted how a Hamas terrorist sexually assaulted him while he was held in captivity and how Gazan civilians beat him and called him a "pig."

Guy Gilboa-Dalal at Re'im, October 13, 2025.

Thousands gather in Tel Aviv to demand state probe on October 7 failures

"The people of Israel deserve answers about how the terrible failure happened and how to prevent it from happening again," former prime minister Naftali Bennett published on X/Twitter.

Protests in Tel Aviv demanding a new October 7 state probe.

‘We're ghosts of people’: Families of aid workers abducted by Houthis speak out

Families allowed limited contact with their abducted loved ones said they seemed gaunt, exhausted and much thinner than when they were taken.

Houthi terrorists lead detained people on the day of their release in Sanaa, Yemen, January 25, 2025; illustrative.

The rise of the hostage influencer and the price of public trauma - comment

Editor's Notes: The story of Israel’s new celebrities is, in the end, the story of a society that refuses to look away from its trauma, yet also cannot bear to stare at it directly for too long.

Taking control of the narrative is, for many survivors a form of therapy and a form of revenge. Hamas tried to erase them. Standing on a stage and saying “this is what they did to me and this is why we must bring the others home” is the opposite of erasure.