Only about 50 hostages remain alive in the Gaza Strip, according to U.S. security sources consulted Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. This is a pessimistic estimate, considering that 116 hostages have been held captive by the Hamas terrorist group since Oct. 7.

According to the information disclosed, this estimate is based on information available to Israeli intelligence, together with the assessment by U.S. intelligence. The conclusions are that 66 of the remaining hostages are no longer alive.

Prior to this number, an Israeli estimate claimed that there were 41 dead hostages among the remaining 116. Eight of the hostages are Americans. Throughout Israel's military invasion of Gaza, the bodies of 19 civilian hostages were recovered.

The Hamas terrorist group has offered no indication about the situation of the civilians and military personnel captured after the Oct. 7 attacks. Some analysts estimate that if Hamas is increasingly delaying a potential ceasefire with amendments to the agreements, it is because the situation with the hostages is worse than expected or because they are in the hands of other terrorist groups with a presence in the Gaza Strip.