American officials believe as few as 50 of the hostages seized on October 7 that remain in Gaza are still alive, while sixty six are believed to have died in captivity.

The estimate is based on a combination of US and Israeli intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

The IDF has confirmed that 41 hostages have died in captivity, in part thanks to intelligence gathered by troops operating in Gaza.

Hagai Levine, the head of the medical team for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, told the WSJ he was “extremely worried” about those still in Gaza.

“It seems like every week more hostages are dying or getting in danger or very sick,” he said.

Speaking to AFP earlier this week, an anonymous senior Israeli negotiator said that “dozens” of hostages were certainly still alive in Gaza.

“We cannot leave them there a long time, they will die,” they said.

A vast majority of those still in captivity are being held by Hamas, they claimed, with others potentially under the control of other militant groups or private citizens.

Repeated attempts to free the remaining hostages via a ceasefire deal have failed to come to fruition over recent months.

Earlier in June, several hostages, including Noa Argamani, were rescued in an operation led by Israeli forces.