Hostage

A hostage is a person who is held captive against his or her will. Hostages are often taken (held captive) to force someone else to do something for their captors (the people who took them hostage). Hostages are taken for many different reasons.

• Kidnapping is the act of taking a hostage and asking for a sum of money, called ransom. If the ransom is paid, the hostage is freed. If the ransom is not paid, the hostage is killed.
• During some crimes, for example when robbing a bank, hostages may be taken to stop the police from attacking. The hostages are commonly used to help the thief escape by either stopping the police from shooting them or by freeing a hostage if the police will do something, for example, getting the robbers a car or a helicopter.
• Hostages may be taken for political reasons. This is mostly done as a form of terrorism. It is often done to get prisoners (including prisoner of war at wartime) freed or get attention for a group or issue.

Hostage Media

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  Police trainees recovering a hostage during a training exercise

• (Video) Police demonstrate hostage response techniques in Japan

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  "Gislas" was an Old English word for "hostages", demonstrating that the practice was commonplace in England long before the word "hostage" was coined.

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  "Hostages", 1896 painting by Jean-Paul Laurens, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

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  German announcement of the execution of 100 Polish hostages as revenge for death of 2 Germans in Warsaw, occupied Poland, February 1944

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  A British armoured railway wagon behind a railcar on which two Arab hostages are seated, Palestine Mandate, 1936

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  Belgian soldier in front of dead hostages, November 1964 in Stanleyville, Congo. Belgian paratroopers freed over 1,800 European hostages held by Congolese rebels during the Congo Crisis.

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  Hostage Rescue Team agents

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  Empty strollers symbolize the children abducted, displayed at a demonstration demanding the return of Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza in Tel Aviv in 2023.