Sinwar's hostage instructions
Sinwar's hostage instructionsno credit

The Palestinian Arab newspaper al-Quds published three documents in the handwriting of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar which contain instructions regarding the guarding of the Israeli hostages, their distribution in each area, and the names of the hostages, including those who were released in the first deal last November.

The first document includes the instructions regarding the hostages and it states that the lives of the abductees must be preserved because "they are an important card" to free terrorists imprisoned in Israel. Sinwar included quotes from the Koran on the subject.

The second document included a statistical breakdown of the hostages in each area - men, women, soldiers, civilians, young people, people over sixty or under sixty. This document also specifies where Bedouin hostages were held.

The document itself is censored and the names of the regions are not specified. The total number of hostages indicated in the list is 72. Apparently, many of the named hostages were already released in the first deal.

The third document lists 11 names of hostages who were released at the beginning of the war, their age, and a note about whether they have foreign citizenship. Among those mentioned are Rimon Kirsht, Tami Metzger and Nili Margalit - about whom it was noted that she is a nurse by profession.

101 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, out of about 250 who were kidnapped on October 7, 2023.