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IDF Soldier Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Confirmed Dead
A woman reacts, as people gather in front of the UN Headquarters in Jerusalem demanding for action to be taken to return the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, in Jerusalem, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Cpl. Noa Marciano, from the city of Modi’in in central Israel, has died as a hostage of the Hamas terror group in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Tuesday.
Marciano was a member of the army’s combat intelligence arm and was kidnapped from her base in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel, during Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border assault across southern Israeli communities in which terrorists murdered over 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 others.
Hamas on Monday released a propaganda video of Marciano, 19, identifying herself and reciting the names of her parents and her hometown. The video then cut to images of her lying dead with a bloody head wound.
The Palestinian terror group said Marciano’s death was due to IDF military strikes in Hamas-ruled Gaza following the Oct. 7 atrocities. However, experts have said it appears more like she was bludgeoned to death, presumably by her captors.
“Our hearts go out to the Marciano family, whose daughter, Noa, was brutally kidnapped by the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF said in a statement. “Hamas continues to use psychological terror and behaves inhumanely, through videos and photos of hostages, as it has done in the past.”
The military added that it is “using all means, both intelligence and operational, to bring the hostages home.”
The IDF confirmed Marciano’s death based on intelligence, not the Hamas video, according Israel’s Channel 12 news.
Hamas has released other videos of hostages in recent weeks, showing them under duress attacking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and saying they have been treated well.
Netanyahu has pledged to bring all hostages home, saying that it is the top priority of the country and that no ceasefire in Gaza will happen until they are released.
Families of hostages have been protesting in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem demanding that their loved ones be returned. Marciano’s mother, Adi Marciano, had traveled around the world to lobby for her release along with family members of the other captives held in Gaza, who include children and the elderly.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and families of hostages met with the head of the International Red Cross, which has been advocating for the well-being and release of the captives, in order to plead for their help. Hamas has forbidden the Red Cross from entering where the hostages are being kept and ensuring their safety.
Hamas has said it would release the hostages in exchange for Israel handing over all Palestinian prisoners sitting in Israeli jails. So far, Hamas has released only four hostages in two separate occasions.
Israel also announced last month that an IDF private, Pvt. Ori Megidish, held hostage by Hamas was liberated during ground operations in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group based in Gaza, released a hostage video last week of two Israelis being held in Gaza. The group said in a statement that it is willing to release the pair, Hanna Katzir, 77, and Yagil Yaakov, 12, both of Kibbutz Nir Oz, for “humanitarian reasons.”
The vast majority of the roughly 240 hostages in Gaza are believed to be in the hands of Hamas, but Islamic Jihad, a smaller and allied terrorist group in the Palestinian enclave, has said previously it held at least 30 captives.
The post IDF Soldier Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Confirmed Dead first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.