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Hamas’s attack on Israel has given rise to the largest-scale hostage crisis in the country’s 75-year history.

About 200 people have been captured and taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli military.

Over the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict, armed Palestinian groups have taken dozens of Israelis captive.

The vast majority have been Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers, which have been used by various Palestinian groups to secure the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

This time, Hamas officials have demanded the release of 6,000 people from Israeli prisons in exchange for the men, women and children taken since 7 October.

While its western allies have strict policies on never negotiating with hostage takers, Israel takes a different view.

Here Sky News looks at Israel’s complex history with hostage negotiations and how it has dealt with similar incidents in the past.

hostages
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Nine of the hostages taken from Israel since 7 October

‘Unwritten contract’ between Israel and its people

The taking of hostages has long been a feature of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Armed Palestinian groups have used Israel’s commitment to its people as a bargaining measure to achieve their aims since people were displaced and many killed in the ‘Nakba’ of 1948.

Dr Melanie Garson, associate professor in international conflict resolution and security at University College London, says: “They know the value Israel has always placed on every single life and the explicit promise between the government and the people that they would never leave anyone behind enemy lines.

“That comes from being a very small state fighting for its existence and from the Holocaust when so many people were left unknown.”

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The state’s “unwritten contract” with its people also has origins in Jewish law.

The Amidah, a prayer recited three times a day by practicing Jews, refers to God “freeing the captives”. Jewish scripture also prioritises freeing prisoners above feeding the poor.

And safely returning hostages, even those not alive, means the appropriate burial rituals in Judaism can be respected.

Munich massacre

One of the most famous incidents involving Israeli hostages was during the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

It was carried out by eight members of the Black September organisation, a militant Palestinian group formed in 1970 that took its name from the war between Jordan and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

They broke into the Olympic village and at around 4am on 5 September they reached where the Israeli team were staying.

Masked Black September hostage taker inside the Olympic village in Munich in 1972. Pic: AP
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Masked Black September hostage taker inside the Olympic village in Munich in 1972. Pic: AP

As they drew their weapons a German wrestling judge Yossef Gutfreund tried to intervene and was shot dead.

Two Israelis were killed and nine others, including athletes and coaches, were taken hostage.

The hostage takers’ demands were the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, as well as members of the German terror group Red Army Faction (RAF), and a plane to take the hostages to an Arab country.

The German and Israeli authorities provided vehicles to take them to a NATO air base where they could then travel by helicopter.

But in a failed rescue attempt all nine hostages and five of the assailants were killed.

Israel launched a military offensive, which they named ‘Wrath of God’, in response four days later. PLO bases in Syria and Lebanon were bombed and 200 people were killed.

Entebbe

Four years later on 27 June 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by three men and a woman who were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and RAF militant groups.

The plane refuelled in Benghazi, Libya, before disembarking in Entebbe, Uganda, at 4am the next day.

All 258 people on board were taken to a disused airport terminal under the watch of Ugandan soldiers.

Initially, 47 elderly people, women and children were released, followed by about 100 non-Israelis.

Around 100 Israelis were left, whom the hostage takers said they would let go in exchange for 53 prisoners.

The Israelis refused to negotiate and instead, with the help of Mossad intelligence and the Kenyan authorities, they organised a rescue operation.

Codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, it was led by Benjamin Netanyahu‘s brother Yonatan.

Israeli family reunited with Entebbe hostage at Ben Gurion Airport in July 1976
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Israeli family reunited with Entebbe hostage at Ben Gurion Airport in July 1976

Mother reunited with her daughter after Entebbe hostage crisis. Pic: AP
Image:
Mother reunited with her daughter after Entebbe hostage crisis. Pic: AP

The raid was successful – almost all of the hostages were rescued and all seven of those holding them were killed.

The only Israeli casualty was Yonatan Netanyahu.

Gilad Shalit

The most recent high-profile Israeli hostage was in 2006 when 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier, was captured in an attack on the post he was stationed at close to the Egyptian and Gaza borders.

Gilad Shalit, 19, before his capture
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Gilad Shalit, 19, before his capture

After two tank operators were killed and a third wounded, Mr Shalit was taken into Gaza via Hamas-dug underground tunnels.

He was held by members of Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees, and the Army of Islam over a period of five years.

His family’s campaign for his return spread around the world, with his father impressing on the Israeli authorities: “The government sent Gilad to fight. It must bring him back.”

A protest demanding the safe return of Gilad Shalit
Image:
A protest demanding the safe return of Gilad Shalit

Mr Shalit was released on 18 October 2011.

It was the first time an IDF soldier had been returned alive since 1985.

Hamas militants with a picture of Gilad Shalit in Jabalya, Gaza in 2007
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Hamas militants with a picture of Gilad Shalit in Jabalya, Gaza in 2007

The prisoner exchange was also the largest in history – almost 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released over the next two months.

During his time in captivity, there were heavy bombardments in both Israel and Gaza.

Gilad Shalit and his father Noam are reunited after his release in 2011
Image:
Gilad Shalit and his father Noam are reunited after his release in 2011

Past ‘no precedent’ for predicting this outcome

In the past, when there has been enough intelligence to show hostages’ exact whereabouts, the Israelis have launched rescue operations.

But these are very high-risk and with Gaza’s high population density and network of underground tunnels, it may prove impossible to locate those currently being held hostage.

This leaves negotiation.

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Appeal for safe release of hostages

Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, tells Sky News that foreign nationals and women, children and elderly, could be let go as they were in Entebbe.

“Lots of other nationalities being among the hostages could be helpful,” he says. “It increases the interest of other countries – you already have the US, Germany and France offering to help.”

He adds that Israel’s control over humanitarian corridors into Gaza could also be used as a bargaining chip.

But Professor David Tal, chair of modern Israeli studies at the University of Sussex, says the current situation is so “beyond” the usual parameters of the Arab-Israeli conflict that there is no way of predicting how either Israel or the hostage takers will act.

“The nature of this attack is so atrocious, so brutal, it means the past isn’t a precedent that can tell us how it will turn out,” he says.

Hostage victim Tal Shoham
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A sign shows hostage victim Tal Shoham

Israel Hostage video
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A mother of a hostage victim with a picture of her daughter

If the Israelis do negotiate on prisoner releases, it will be through a third-party mediator, possibly Qatar, Egypt or Turkey, as there are no direct lines of communication with Hamas, he adds.

But with Mr Netanyahu’s government vowing the total eradication of Hamas – there could be no one left to negotiate with.

Professor Tal is also sceptical of Hamas agreeing to a release in exchange for humanitarian aid for Gaza.

“Hamas uses its own people as bargaining chips,” he says.

“They want to see human catastrophe in the Gaza strip – they’ll want to prevent humanitarian corridors opening so they can further act against Israel. So I don’t think you can talk about rules or common sense in this case.”

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Trump vowed to end Ukraine war in first 24 hours of his presidency – nearly 200 days in, could he be close?

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Trump vowed to end Ukraine war in first 24 hours of his presidency  - nearly 200 days in, could he be close?

Seven hours is a long time in US politics.

At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.

By 5pm, Mr Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.

There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.

It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.

Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?

Is Mr Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?

The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of a breakthrough.

Read more from Sky News:
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Zoo kills 12 healthy baboons to ease overcrowding

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Mr Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.

On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.

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Zoo staff face death threats for feeding baboon remains to lions

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Zoo staff face death threats for feeding baboon remains to lions

Staff at a zoo in Germany which culled 12 baboons and fed some of their carcasses to the lions say they have received death threats.

Tiergarten Nuremberg euthanised the healthy Guinea baboons at the end of July due to overcrowding in their enclosure.

Some remains were used for research while the rest were fed to the zoo’s carnivores.

Plans to kill the baboons were first announced last year after the population exceeded 40, and protestors gathered outside the zoo to show their outrage.

When the site closed last Tuesday to carry out the cull, several activists were arrested after climbing the fence.

The director of the zoo defended the decision, saying efforts to sterilise and rehome some baboons had failed.

“We love these animals. We want to save a species. But for the sake of the species, we have to kill individuals otherwise we are not able to keep up a population in a restricted area,” Dr Dag Encke told Sky News.

These are not the specific animals involved. File pics: Reuters
Image:
These are not the specific animals involved. File pics: Reuters

‘The staff are suffering’

He said police are investigating after he and the staff were sent death threats.

“The staff are really suffering, sorting out all these bad words, insults and threats,” Dr Encke said.

“The normal threat is ‘we will kill you, and we’ll feed you to the lions’.

“But what is really disgusting is when they say that’s worse than Dr Mengele from the National Socialists, who was one of the most cruel people in human history.

“That is really insulting all the victims of the Second World War and the Nazi regime.”

Josef Mengele was a Nazi officer who performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War.

Dr Dag Encke
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Dr Dag Encke

Zoo animals ‘treated as commodities’

Culling animals and feeding them to predators isn’t unheard of in zoos.

In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo caused controversy by euthanizing an 18-month-old male giraffe called Marius and feeding his body to the lions.

At the time, the zoo said it was due to a duty to avoid inbreeding.

Dr Mark Jones, a vet and head of policy at Born Free Foundation, a charity which campaigns for animals to be kept in the wild, denounced the practice and said thousands of healthy animals are being destroyed by zoos each year.

“It reflects the fact animals in zoos are often treated as commodities that are disposable or replaceable,” he said.

Marius the giraffe was put down and publicly fed to lions at at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. Pic: Keld Navntoft/AFP/Getty
Image:
Marius the giraffe was put down and publicly fed to lions at at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. Pic: Keld Navntoft/AFP/Getty


Zoo asks for unwanted pets

Earlier this week, a zoo in Denmark faced a backlash for asking for unwanted pets to be donated to be used as food for its predators.

In a Facebook post, Aalborg Zoo said it could take smaller live animals such as chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as horses under 147cm. It said the animals would be euthanised by specially trained staff before being fed to carnivores like the European lynx.

While some people supported the scheme, saying they had donated animals in the past, others are outraged.

“The very idea of a zoo offering to take unwanted pets in order to kill them and feed them to their predators will, I think, horrify most right-minded people,” said Dr Jones.

Read more from Sky News:
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Dr Mark Jones
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Dr Mark Jones

Aalborg Zoo has now closed the post to comments and said in a statement: “For many years at Aalborg Zoo, we have fed our carnivores with smaller livestock.

“When keeping carnivores, it is necessary to provide them with meat, preferably with fur, bones, etc., to give them as natural a diet as possible.

“Therefore, it makes sense to allow animals that need to be euthanised for various reasons to be of use in this way.

“In Denmark, this practice is common, and many of our guests and partners appreciate the opportunity to contribute.”

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Trump could meet Putin as early as next week to discuss Ukraine ceasefire – White House official

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Trump could meet Putin as early as next week to discuss Ukraine ceasefire - White House official

Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.

They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.

It came days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil.

Ukraine war latest

Asked during a news conference at the White House if the talks would take place, Mr Trump said: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”

He said it had not been determined where the talks would take place, but added: “We had some very good talks with President Putin today.”

However, he said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”

Asked if Mr Putin made any kind of concession to lead to the development, Mr Trump did not give much away, but added: “We’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kyiv and other places.”

Trump might finally be a step closer to ending the war

Seven hours is a long time in US politics.

At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.

At 5pm, Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.

There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.

It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.

Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?

Is Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?

The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of breakthrough.

Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.

On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.

More tariffs ‘could happen’

Mr Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% he announced on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

“Could happen,” he said, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions intended to pressure Russia into ending its war with Ukraine.

Earlier, he imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, on top of a previous 25% tariff, over its continued purchases of Russian oil.

India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the additional tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
Image:
Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters

It came after Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Mr Putin in which “great progress was made”.

He said he had updated America’s European allies, and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war “in the days and weeks to come”.

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Correspondents in Washington and Moscow break down a busy day of diplomacy

‘The war must end’

Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow”.

He added: “Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started.”

Mr Zelenskyy later said: “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire.”

He added that the pressure on Moscow “is working”, without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.

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