US President Donald Trump said some of the 20 hostages estimated to be alive in Gaza may have “dead recently.”
“It’s 20, but I think the people who have recently died are 20. I hope that’s wrong,” Trump told reporters on Friday in his oval office.
“We know that at least 30 people are dead and we are negotiating to kick them out,” he added.
The Israeli government says there are still 47 hostages in Gaza that were accused of Hamas and its allies on October 7, 2023.
Trump did not reveal the cause of information about the possible recent death.
Trump said the administration was “very deep negotiations with Hamas,” securing the release of remaining Israeli hostages and warning of the “hard situation” ahead.
“You’re not going to put them out unless you reach the last 10 or 20, and you mean you’re doing a lot and doing a lot,” he said.
Israeli forces have yet to respond to CNN’s request for comments on Trump’s remarks.
Trump made a similar comment in August that “probably” fewer than 20 of the remaining hostages are still alive, prompting demands for answers from the Israeli government from the remaining hostage families. Last April, Sarah, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heard on the microphone, saying that there were fewer hostages alive than the official government numbers suggested, sparking anger among hostage families revealing information about the number of people still alive to the government.
In a statement Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Family Forum had not directly addressed Trump’s latest remarks on hostages, but thanked him for “every effort has been made to fulfill his promise to bring them home.”
Trump’s comments came the same day when Hamas was shown on the ground and released a rare video of two hostages being kicked out around Gaza City. One of them said he and eight other hostages in Gaza would die if Israel proceeded with plans to take over the city.
Hostages and Missing Family Forum criticised Israel for intensifying attacks on the city, saying that Israeli forces lack accurate information about the location, increasing the risk to hostages.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have expanded their military operations in recent weeks, taking over and occupying Gaza, which they claim to defeat Hamas. The military says it currently controls 40% of the largest cities in the enclave.
Israeli forces have called on Palestinians to move south from Gaza city in the Mawasi region of Khan Yunis.
“We have declared the Mawasi region as a humanitarian region, where work will be carried out to provide better humanitarian services,” Israeli military spokesman Avichey Adrie said in a statement on Saturday morning.
“We’ll seize the opportunity to move into the humanitarian belt early and join the thousands who have already moved there,” he added.
Social media photos and videos show leaflets dropped in Gaza city and Central Gaza carrying the same message.
The map in Adraee’s statement is intended to show the humanitarian infrastructure set up south of the strip and does not show that a medical or food distribution site north of Netzarim Corridor bisects the territory.
In response, Hamas’ local front issued multiple statements about telegrams urging Palestinians in Gaza city not to flee south, describing it as “the path to death.”
“Every time people believe that the ‘safe zone’ would lie, it ended with a bloody massacre,” he said Friday.
As of Wednesday, Israeli officials said only 70,000 Palestinians had evacuated Gaza city from around 1 million people, accounting for less than 10% of the total population.
A Gaza city resident told CNN he would rather die at home than evacuate again.
“I’m staying in my house and we’re exhausted from the displacement so even if it means death, it won’t displace again until my last breath,” Abu Yasser al-Kour, a 51-year-old father of six, told CNN.
The International Red Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) opposes the mass evacuation in Gaza, calling it “impossible and incomprehensible.”
“This kind of evacuation will lead to large population migration that the Gaza Strip region cannot absorb, given the widespread destruction of private infrastructure and the extreme shortage of food, water, shelters and healthcare,” said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.
Where is the ceasefire negotiation?
Last month, Hamas accepted a recent offer for a 60-day temporary ceasefire between Qatar and Egyptian mediators. Meanwhile, ten live hostages are returned in exchange for the massive release of Palestinian prisoners. The offer is based on a similar proposal presented in July by the special US envoy Steve Witkov, and was originally created in conjunction with Israel.
Israel has requested Hamas be completely disarmed and has yet to provide a response to the offer. Hamas has not promised to disarm, but Netanyahu says he wants “infinite war” by not responding to the deal.
In his remarks Friday, Trump warned that failing to secure hostage trade could lead to “a tough situation.”
“It’s going to be awkward. That’s my opinion, Israel’s choice, but that’s my opinion,” Trump said. “They have to let them out.”
Pushing what Hamas still demands he has, Trump told reporters that the organization “want to have some things that are OK,” but added that “we need to remember October 7th.”
“You know, people have forgotten October 7th. It’s not easy to forget, right?” he said. “But people may forget, or they may intentionally forget it on October 7th. So you have to put it very strongly in the ceremony.”
He then said he was told to a hostage family still being held in Gaza.
“They just want to get them back so badly and it’s all that comes with it. It’s very sad,” he said.
