US President Donald Trump said Friday that “very close” to 40 of the 48 remaining hostages in Gaza were likely dead, and that rather than being endangered, they “might also be freed” as a result of the IDF operation to take over Gaza City.
Trump has repeatedly put hostage families on edge by citing figures that clashed with Israel’s official assessment that 20 hostages were still alive. He said again Friday that “probably 20” are alive but the true figure “might be” fewer.
Seeking to again dispel the families’ concern, an Israeli official familiar with the matter said Israel’s assessment hadn’t changed, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
“Any other number being tossed about, even by the president of the United States, is false and misleading,” the unnamed source was quoted as saying. Israeli officials have repeatedly said they have no new information indicating further deaths.
Trump’s press conference came after the IDF said Friday that it would use “unprecedented force” in Gaza City and assessed that almost half of the city’s roughly 1 million residents had heeded the military’s call to flee south.
UN and humanitarian groups have warned that the Gaza City operation would deepen the humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and the IDF has reportedly warned against the offensive, saying it would endanger soldiers and hostages. Hostage families and former captives have also slammed the operation.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office before he signed a pair of executive orders on Friday, Trump was asked by a reporter to address the hostages’ and families’ appeals that the president “force a ceasefire… [because] they’re worried that the hostages who are still there are more at risk” if the fighting continues.
“They might be,” Trump replied, adding: “Maybe they’ll be free because… [in] war a lot of strange things happen, a lot of results take place that you never think were going to happen.”
“We have 32 dead people… maybe more, 38, but between 32 and 38 that were dead, mostly young people,” he said, adding that he has spoken to parents of slain hostages who were desperate to return the bodies of their loved ones “almost as though [they] were alive.”
“It’s very terrible,” he said. “We have very close to 40 bodies that are included in the whole thing, but we have 20, probably 20 that are living. It might be a little bit less.”
Trump appeared to attribute the hostages’ deaths to conditions in Hamas’s underground tunnels, where many captives were being held.
“Look, young people don’t die — they just don’t die,” said Trump. “They can take a lot, but a lot of people died in these horrible tunnels. They’re mostly in the tunnels.”
Trump was next asked about the report by an independent UN commission this week that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — a charge Israel denies. In response, he said a genocide had taken place when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.
“I haven’t seen that. I’m looking at it,” said Trump of the UN report.
“But did anybody commit genocide on October 7?” Trump continued. “That was genocide at the highest level. That was murder, genocide, you could call it whatever you want. But little babies were chopped in half. Arms were cut off people, heads were cut off people. That’s genocide also, I guess.”
Earlier in the press conference, Trump said people “are forgetting” the massacre. The president was responding to a question about whether he would “study any red lines” to potentially put on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as he prepares to address the UN General Assembly this coming week for the first time since returning to the White House in January.
“We have a long time to go before I go up and speak at the UN, because every day is a long time when it comes to Gaza, when it comes to Israel and the Middle East,” he said.
“You can’t forget October 7, either,” he said. “People are forgetting October 7, they forget it too quickly. That was one of the worst days in world history… You can’t forget that. I don’t forget that.”
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 47 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas-led terrorists in the October 7 onslaught, as well as the remains of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014. Of the 48 remaining captives, at least 26 are confirmed dead by the IDF.
Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.