Blindfolded teddy bears display dedicated to kidnapped children in Israel

(NewsNation) — Several blindfolded teddy bears dedicated to and holding pictures of 30 children as young as 9 months old taken hostage by Hamas militants were placed in Tel Aviv Square.

The children were abducted after Hamas militants infiltrated southern Israel on Oct. 7 on a rampage that killed more than 1,400 people.

Israel’s military on Wednesday said the number of people taken hostage by Hamas and other militants in Gaza during the Oct. 7 attack had been updated to 222 people, including an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens. Four hostages have been released.

International negotiations intensified to secure the release of hostages amid the release of two elderly women, 79-year-old Nurit Cooper and 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, who were freed late Monday.

The Biden administration has said at least 10 American citizens are unaccounted for and has not confirmed that they are being held by Hamas.

Among the more than 200 hostages are children, young women and men, the elderly and Holocaust survivors. Efforts to secure their release include diplomatic efforts from Israel, the U.S. and Qatar, which has open lines of communication with Hamas through the terrorist group’s political office in Doha. 

The U.S. is working “hour by hour” on efforts to recover hostages, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday, but he did not speak directly to reports that the White House is pressuring Israel to delay its ground incursion into Gaza to allow more time for hostage recovery and for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.

Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and sealed it off from food, fuel and other supplies in retaliation for a bloody incursion by Hamas militants, vowing to destroy the militant group.

The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government.