- The figure is based on intelligence collected by Shin Bet, Israel’s security service
- British citizens Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Emily Damari, 27, are still hostages
- Security source: ‘We cannot negotiate for dead bodies for thousands of terrorists’
Fears grew last night that only 40 of the 133 hostages held by Hamas are still alive.
The figure is based on intelligence collected by Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, which monitored the Oct. 7 massacre when Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and brought more than 240 hostages from southern Israel to Gaza.
A source said: ‘[Intelligence] is much easier to access than before October 7, when we had limited access to Gaza and we didn’t have many resource options.
“The situation is completely different because we are there.”
Israel’s retaliation for the attack has killed 33,000 Palestinians, the terror group claims.
Among the hostages still in Hamas captivity is British citizen Nadav Popplewell, 51 years old
Israel says 14,000 of them were Hamas operatives.
Two of the hostages are British citizens, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Emily Damari, 27.
So far, 112 hostages have been returned alive to Israel.
Of those, 105 were released last year as part of an exchange. Previously, Hamas released four prisoners, while three more were rescued by the Israeli army.
The source added: “Hamas is trying to keep everything very secret. . . they will never release all the hostages and corpses.”
Another security source said: “Negotiation is a lost cause. We cannot possibly negotiate dead bodies for the release of hundreds or thousands of terrorists.”
Yehonatan Sabban of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said: “The hostages in Gaza are running out of time.”
Some hostages are still missing (all from the left). Front row: Avinatan Or, 30; Kfir Bibas, 1; Carmel Hole, 39; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Doron Steinbrecher, 31. Second row: Dror Or, 49; Zahar Baruch, 24; Agam Berger, 19; Noa Argamani, 26; Gali Berman, 26. Third row: Liri Albag, 19; Joseph Ohana, 24; Hamza Alzayadni, 22; Eitan Hoorn, 37; Daniela Gilboa, 19. Fourth row: Ariel Bibas, 4; Omer Wenkert, 22; Karina Ariev, 19; Yair Horn, 45; Edan Alexander, 20. Fifth row: Romi Gonen, 23; Josef Alzayadni, 53; Guy Illouz, 26; Naama Levy, 19; Eden Yerushalmi, 24. Sixth row: Ziv Berman, 26; Amit Esther Buskila, 28; Tamir Adar, 38; Gad Haggai, 73; Alon Ohel, 23