Israel reported 73 hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip

There are still 73 Israeli citizens still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. This was reported on February 15 by Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister's office.

"There are still 73 hostages - alive and dead - being held in the Gaza Strip," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Gendelman also noted that 19 hostages, including five soldiers, were released as part of the first phase of the agreement. According to him, Israel is waiting for the return of another 14 people.

"The state of Israel has a moral and ethical obligation to do everything possible to bring home every last one of them," the adviser emphasized.

Survivor: Russian Trufanov spent 498 days in captivity in Gaza

Russia expressed gratitude to the Palestinian side for the release of the citizen

On Jan. 19, the first phase of the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement went into effect. During this phase of the deal, which will last 42 days, 33 Israeli hostages and some 1,900 Palestinians are to be released. On the same day, the movement released three people in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners. After that, several more rounds of exchanges took place. Thus, on February 15, Hamas representatives handed over three hostages, including Russian Alexander Trufanov, to the Red Cross.

The situation in the Middle East escalated in the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.