David Zimmerman (FBI/FOX) updates American Hostage Crisis in Palestine

1 Hostage, 4 Corpses.

On February 16, 2025, I filed a Freedom of Information request with the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy.

“I hereby request the DOJ OIP provide the names of the 43 American citizens who were murdered on October 07, 2023 in Israel and the names of the ‘at least ten’ American citizens who were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.”

The DOJ OIP responded on February 18, 2025, and mischaracterized the nature of my request by stating that I had requested the names of 43 American citizens killed by Hamas.

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act request dated February 16, 2025 and received in this Office on February 18, 2025 seeking records concerning American citizens killed or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

I have no information to support that these people were killed by Hamas instead of Israel. I did not request information specific to Hamas, and specifically expressed skepticism about the nature of their deaths:

“Yoav Gallant told Israel’s Channel 12 on February 06, 2025 that Israel’s military fired on vehicles containing hostages. Multiple international press reports have described how Israel indiscriminately killed their own citizens in large numbers on October 07, 2023 under the so-called ‘Hannibal Directive.’”

The DOJ OIP continued that they did not have this information, but that the FBI likely did:

“Based on the information you have provided, you may want to direct your request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the federal entity most likely to maintain the records you are seeking.”

Subsequent to this correspondence, on March 5, 2025, David Zimmerman, now of Fox News, wrote an article that outlined the status of the American hostages:

The forgotten Americans of Hamas' terrorist massacre on October 7th.

Mr. Zimmerman’s recently retired from FBI counterterrorism after serving in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 2020 through 2024, according to his bio on Fox News. Mr. Zimmerman led the FBI’s efforts to recover hostages in Israel.

David Zimmermann recently retired from the FBI after working 25+ years in the counterterrorism arena, both domestically and abroad. Zimmermann’s last tour was in Tel Aviv as a Supervisory Special Agent from 2020 to 2024. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Zimmermann led the FBI’s Israel-based wartime efforts to seek the release/return of over 250 innocent hostages held by Hamas terrorists. …. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of the FBI or any other government agency.

Another bio of Mr. Zimmerman from the Reichmann University International Institute for Counter-Terrorism states that Mr. Zimmerman retired from his station in Tel Aviv in July 2024.

Upon completing his tour in London in 2018, SA Zimmermann returned to the US and continued working on counterterrorism investigations. In 2020, SA Zimmermann was again promoted and reported to Tel Aviv as the ALAT (Assistant Legal Attaché) responsible for working on counterterrorism matters with Israeli partners. From October 2023 to July 2024, in coordination with Israeli and US partners, ALAT Zimmermann led the FBI’s Israel-based wartime efforts to seek the release/return of over 250 innocent hostages held by Hamas terrorists.

In July 2024, ALAT Zimmermann retired from the FBI. During his FBI career, ALAT David Zimmermann received almost two dozen awards and commendations, including the Attorney General’s Award, the FBI Director’s Award, the State Department Superior Honor Award, the New Scotland Yard SO15 Commander’s Commendation, and the FBI Medal of Excellence.

The Department of Justice unsealed their indictment of leaders of Hamas on September 3, 2024. I was a bit shocked to see the information on American citizens in the indictment. I had seen no press reports that there were American citizens involved in Israel to this point, either from social media, mainstream media, the government or otherwise. Nobody reads the underlying information, just the spin of the narratives of the press reports.

e. On October 7, 2023, Hamas committed its most violent, large-scale terrorist attack to date (the “October 7 Hamas Massacres”). In the early morning hours of October 7, 2023, Hamas sent more than 2,000 armed fighters into farms and towns in southern Israel, where they carried out the massacres of over a thousand people and the kidnappings of more than 200 others. Hamas terrorists attacked civilians, firing handguns, assault rifles, and handheld rocket launchers, in small residential communities in Kfar Aza, Be’eri, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Re’im, Holit, Zikim, Kerem Shalom, Sufa, and others; the Israeli town of Sderot; and a music festival held near Re’im; among other places. During the October 7 Hamas Massacres, Hamas terrorists weaponized sexual violence against Israeli women, including rape and genital mutilation. Hamas also targeted civilian populations with a barrage of rockets, and claimed that its fighters fired more than 5,000 such rockets at towns and cities in southern Israel during the attacks. As of the date of this Complaint, at least 43 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least ten American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.

The statement above was from an affidavit of a “Special Agent with the FBI, assigned to investigate counterterrorism matters,” as part of a larger chronology of the terrorist history of Hamas. It certainly seems like Mr. Zimmerman wrote it. From the DOJ complaint against senior leaders of Hamas:

17. I am a Special Agent with the FBI, assigned to investigate counterterrorism matters, including counterterrorism investigations involving crimes against the United States and U.S. citizens occurring outside the United States. Based on my training and experience, I have become knowledgeable about criminal activity, particularly violations of the federal terrorism statutes. I have been personally involved in the investigation of this matter. This affidavit is based upon my conversations with other law enforcement officers and other individuals, and upon my examination of various reports and records. Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of establishing probable cause for the offenses cited above, it does not include all the facts that I have learned during the course of the investigation. Where the contents of conversations with others and statements by others are reported herein, they are reported in substance and in part, except where otherwise indicated. Some of the information recounted below is based on draft translations of statements written in Arabic or Farsi, which are subject to revision, and in some cases, I have indicated my interpretation of certain words or phrases in brackets, which interpretations are based on the context in which they appear as well as, among other things, my training and experience. Finally, to the extent there are grammatical, typographical, or spelling errors in any quotations in this affidavit, those errors appear in the original quoted material.

In his March 2025 Fox News article, Mr. Zimmerman wondered why there was no outrage over the American citizens killed and was “shocked” to find out that most didn’t even know about it.

Zimmerman:

America, where is your outrage?

It has been more than 16 months since more than 1,400 victims were murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped by Hamas, a group officially designated as a terrorist entity by the U.S. Department of State in 1997. …

Since returning stateside, I have been shocked that most Americans do not realize the extent of the suffering our own citizens endured and continue to endure at the hands of Hamas.

This, in March 2025, after hundreds of thousands or more Palestinians were killed, and the hostages formed an unreported basis for the Genocide. No one talked about it.

Above, Mr. Zimmerman reported in March 2025 that “more than 1,400 victims were murdered.” The DOJ compliant based on the FBI Special Agent affidavit claimed Hamas “carried out the massacres of over a thousand people and the kidnappings of more than 200 others.”

Mr. Zimmerman reported 45 American citizens murdered in his March 2025 Fox News article. The DOJ complaint of September 2024 listed 43.

Zimmerman: Do not forget the 45 Americans murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023

Also note that in March 2025, that Mr. Zimmerman still insists that Hamas raped people, as was included in the September 2024 DOJ Complaint, despite multiple press reports subsequent to October 7, 2023 which claim to have “debunked” the rape claims.

For instance, Electronic Intifada reported on January 6, 2025, that Israel had no rape victims claims: Israel still can’t find any 7 October rape victims, prosecutor admits.

There are still zero complainants in alleged cases of rapes committed by Palestinians on 7 October 2023, an Israeli prosecutor has admitted.

The affidavit in the DOJ complaint of Hamas by the FBI Special Agent assigned to investigate counterterrorism matters stated that Hamas raised money through cryptocurrency.

Hamas raises money to fund its terrorist activities through a variety of methods, including by soliciting and receiving cryptocurrency payments, advertising the ostensible anonymity of such transactions. Since 2019, Hamas’s military wing has used social media and other platforms to call for cryptocurrency contributions from supporters abroad, including in the United States, to Hamas-controlled virtual wallets, explicitly acknowledging that those payments would be used to fund Hamas’s campaign of violence. Through these mechanisms, Hamas has received tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency payments to fund its activities.

Mr. Zimmerman’s bio from Reichmann University International Institute for Counter-Terrorism states that he was a Special Agent of the FBI who investigated “cyber matters” in unidentified field offices from 1999-2013.

In 1999, Zimmermann was appointed as a Special Agent (SA) with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). From 1999 to 2013, SA Zimmermann served as a field investigator in two FBI field offices, working mainly on counterterrorism and cyber matters.

And now, to Mr. Zimmerman’s accounting of US hostages in Palestine. The statement in the September 2024 DOJ complaint was vague: “at least ten American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.”

I believe Mr. Zimmerman clarified this statement in his March 2025 Fox article, however. Let’s look at his accounting.

We start with 12 total hostages. 4 were murdered on October 7, 2023, but the bodies were taken by Hamas to Palestine. Thus the phrase “otherwise unaccounted for” included bodies, not actual hostages.

Few in this country realize that of the 12 Americans taken hostage by Hamas, four were murdered on October 7th, but their bodies were taken hostage anyway – and those bodies have yet to be returned to their families for a proper burial.

The 4 alleged bodies are “Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, Gad Haggai and Judi Weinstein.” We’re down to 8 to account for of the initial 12.

1 other was killed “six months ago” (prior to March 2025). Down to 7.

… a 23-year-old American, who was kidnapped on October 7th shortly after part of his arm was blown off by a grenade, was brutally murdered six months ago in a Gaza tunnel with five other innocent victims.

2 were released in October 2023, and 2 were released in November 2023. Down to 3.

The average American does not remember that two female American hostages were released in late October 2023 or that two more females (including a child) were released in a November 2023 "hostage deal."

Two were released February 2025. Down to 1.

And despite it happening this February, there is relatively little general awareness that two American men were released in the latest "hostage deal.”

1 hostage is still believed to be alive-

“we have one American who is believed to be alive – Edan Alexander.”

So that’s the accounting of the 12 hostages: 4 killed on October 7, 2023; 2 released in October 2023; 2 released in November 2023; 1 killed in Fall 2024; 2 released February 2025. 1 live hostage believed to still be held in Palestine; 4 corpses still believed to be held in Palestine.

Following the March 5, 2025 article of Mr. Zimmerman reporting the 1 hostage and 4 corpses still held in Palestine, President Trump announced on March 6 that “Only sick and twisted people keep bodies,” and threatened to kill everyone in Palestine.

I for one, wonder where the bodies of the other roughly 40 American citizens killed in Israel went. Would their autopsies have confirmed that they were killed by Israeli weapons?

I do concur with the President that the hostage and the 4 bodies must be released immediately.

I’ll tell you some obvious truths that Mr. Zimmerman won’t tell you.

The people of Palestine have obviously been tricked into attacking Israel in order to give Israel the basis to conduct Genocide against Palestine, and most of them don’t seem to realize it.

The nation of Israel, where Mr. Zimmerman was stationed 2020-2024, is a terrorist state that has attacked the United States on multiple occasions, including but not limited to the “false flags” attacks against the USS Liberty in 1967 and the events of September 11, 2001.

Hamas has long been sponsored and financed by Israel.

Israel had knowledge of the upcoming events of October 7, 2023, and allowed it to happen.

Israel killed a very large number of its own citizens, and likely our American citizens, on October 7, 2023 under their “Hannibal” protocol. I believe Mr. Zimmerman has misrepresented who killed these people in official government documents.

The taking of American hostages formed a basis for the US government to supply arms and other military support for Israel to conduct Genocide against the people of Palestine under the auspices of “hostage rescue.” All the while, Elon Musk appears to have been involved in artificial intelligence targeting strategies to intentionally kill large numbers of women and children.

Anthony Blinkin and Benjamin Netanyahu at all times conspired to delay and sabotage the release of hostages in order to extend and maximize the Genocide in Palestine.

The President of the United States is controlled by blackmail through crimes involving Jeffrey Epstein, which are documented by Israel.

I know that what Israel had done to Palestine for decades is inexcusable and abhorrent, but you got triggered and walked right into this. Anyone with half a brain should have known what would follow. October 7, 2023, was exactly what Israel wanted. Your leaders of Hamas cannot be trusted.

So please, for your own sake, release all the hostage and bodies and remove this basis for Genocide, otherwise the President and Israel will very likely make good on their latest threat.

Charles Wright

We have to rely on organizations like “The Electronic Intifada” to tell us the news that the US government will not: How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October.

• Israel expanded the use of its murderous “Hannibal Directive” – designed to prevent soldiers from being taken alive as prisoners of war – by killing many of its own civilians.

• The use of such “Hannibal” strikes are confirmed in a UN report published in June.

• Fire from Israeli helicopters, drones, tanks and even ground troops was deliberately undertaken in order to prevent Palestinian fighters from taking live Israeli captives who could be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

• At the initiative of the local Gaza Division, “Hannibal” was carried out right away: less than an hour after the Palestinian offensive began.

• “Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza,” the division was ordered at 11:22 am.

• By midday, an unambiguous order was given from the high command of the Israeli military (the so-called “Pit” headquarters, deep under Israel’s Hakirya building in downtown Tel Aviv) to invoke the Hannibal Directive throughout the entire region, “even if this means the endangerment or harming of the lives of civilians in the region, including the captives themselves.”

• This bombing of Israeli captives by Israel continues in Gaza even today.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted in a December meeting with released captives and families of captives that they had been “under our bombardments” in Gaza.

• Hundreds of Israelis were likely killed by Israel itself in “Hannibal” targeting incidents as well as unintentional crossfire.

• Israel has been engaged in an aggressive cover-up of its crimes against its own people.

Mr. Zimmerman’s statement that “1,400 victims were murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped by Hamas,” appears to be a false statement. Not only did Israel obviously kill a large number of these people, perhaps even the large majority, the rape charges have never been substantiated.

Estimates on the death toll of Israel’s bombing and starvation range from the hundreds of thousands to over a million in the days after October 7. Much of the basis of the US involvement appears to have been based on the presence of American hostages in Palestine. There is substantial evidence that Anthony Blinkin and Benjamin deliberately stalled and sabotaged hostage negotiations to maximize Israel’s genocide campaign. Anthony Blinkin used the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as a go-between for negotiations with Hamas.

The forgotten Americans of Hamas' terrorist massacre on October 7th

JURISDICTION OF FBI

As an active-duty FBI agent stationed in Israel from 2020 to 2024, I witnessed firsthand how the tragedy of October 7th impacted American families. U.S. law designates the FBI as the lead agency for investigations into Americans killed or injured in a terrorist attack anywhere in the world and a Presidential Policy Directive designates the FBI as lead agency for investigations dealing with kidnapped Americans anywhere in the world.