President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that some Israeli hostages have died inside Gaza since the last ceasefire, alarming families of the 20 hostages thought to remain alive.
Trump made the comment while speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, where he took credit for the ceasefire earlier this year when 33 hostages, mostly alive, were released.
“So now they have 20, but the 20 is actually probably not 20 because a couple of them are not around any longer,” Trump said.
After the main group representing hostage families criticized Israeli negotiators for failing to keep them updated, Israeli officials said their assessment of the hostages’ conditions was unchanged.
There are 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, all but one of whom were abducted when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Of them, 30 have been confirmed dead, either killed on Oct. 7 or subsequently in captivity. (One is the body of a soldier Hamas has been holding since 2014.)
It is not the first time that Trump has signaled that more hostages were dead than previously publicly acknowledged. In May, he said that 21 hostages were living, compared to the 24 who had not publicly been confirmed to have died. It subsequently became clear that he was correct.
Trump’s latest disclosure comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces pressure to accept a partial deal that would see the release of 10 living hostages and some number of dead hostages. Netanyahu has publicly said he will not consider any partial deals and is readying the Israeli army to invade Gaza City, the largest remaining Hamas redoubt where hostages are thought to be kept. The planned invasion comes a year after six hostages were murdered when Israeli forces neared their location in Rafah.
Trump did not offer any details about his disclosure. Most of the hostages thought to be living received signs of life following the last ceasefire, as released hostages shared their experiences in captivity. Some have subsequently been featured in videos released by Hamas, but there have been no signs of life for others since.
Conditions for the remaining hostages are thought to have grown grim following Israel’s blockade on the territory that lasted for two months after the ceasefire.
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