Some of the 20 living hostages being held in Gaza may have died, US President Donald Trump said in a Friday interview with Fox News.
“So there’s 20, but there could be a couple dead in the recent days,” he said. “But there’s also 34 that are dead, and we want them back.”
Trump gave incorrect figures. There are 48 remaining hostages, 28 of whom have been declared deceased.
“I’m the one who got the hostages back. [Special envoy] Steve Witkoff has done a great job, and we have [special envoy for hostages] Adam Boehler… He’s a rich guy. I was going to put him in charge of a massive fund. He could have had any job he wanted. He only wants to work on getting hostages back,” Trump said.
“We’ve gotten 67 hostages back, and we [didn’t] pay any money,” he continued. “[Former president Joe] Biden would pay $6 billion for five hostages, and [Hamas would] get more than we would,” he claimed, saying this would give an incentive to terrorists to continue kidnapping people.
The figure Trump is referring to is unclear. Since he was elected president on November 5, there have been 53 hostages who have been returned, broken down as follows: Thirty-nine were released in the framework of an agreement, while the IDF recovered the bodies of 14 hostages.
Also, during the Biden administration, there were more than 100 live hostages who were returned in ceasefire deals.
In early September, Trump told Hamas to “IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 hostages.”
“Not 2 or 5 or 7!” he said on Truth Social. If Hamas does this, then “things will change rapidly,” he added, saying, “IT WILL END!”
In the Fox interview, Trump only referred to the 20 hostages presumed to be alive, rather than the total 48 hostages held in captivity.
Hostage families call for all 48 hostages to be released
In a direct message to the US president, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, “This nightmare cannot end for our nation until all 48 hostages are accounted for – both those who survived and those who were brutally murdered during these 700 days of hell.”
It reiterated its demand for Trump to make every effort to ensure that all 48 hostages held in captivity are returned to Israel.
Trump, in late August, also said there are “probably” fewer than 20 hostages left alive.