Trump says some hostages may have 'recently died' in Gaza, as Israel calls on Palestinians to evacuate enclave's largest city
US President Donald Trump said that some of the 20 hostages who are presumed to be alive in Gaza may have "recently died," as Israel calls on Palestinians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead ofan expanded assaulton the enclave's largest city. "It's 20 people but I think of the 20 there could be some that have recently died is what I'm hearing. I hope that's wrong," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Friday. "We know that at least 30 people are dead, and we are negotiating to get them out," he added. The Israeli government says 47 hostages abducted by Hamas and its allies on October 7, 2023 are still in Gaza, including 27 who are believed to be dead. Trump did not reveal the source of the information regarding the possible recent deaths. Trump said the administration was"in very deep negotiations with Hamas"to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and warned of a "tough situation" ahead. "When you get down to the final 10 or 20, you're not gonna get them out unless you're gonna do a lot and doing a lot means capitulation," he said. The Israeli military has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment on Trump's remarks. Trump made similar comments in August saying "probably" fewer than 20 of the remaining hostages were still alive, prompting demands from the families of remaining hostages for answers from Israel's government. Last April,Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara was overheard on a microphone saying that fewer hostages were alive than the government's official numbers suggested, sparking outrage among hostage families who demanded the government reveal information about the number of those still alive. In a statement Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum did not directly address Trump's latest remarks on the hostages but thanked him for "making every effort to fulfill his promise to bring them home." Trump's comments came on the same dayHamas released a rare videoof two hostages in which they were shown above the ground and being driven around Gaza City. One of them said that he and eight other hostages in Gaza City would die if Israel proceeded with its plan to take over the city. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum have criticized Israel'sescalating assaulton the city, saying it would increase the risk to hostages since the Israeli military lacks precise information about their location. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has expanded its military operations in recent weeks to take over and occupy Gaza City, which it claims would defeat Hamas. The military says it now controls 40% of the enclave's largest city. The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to move from Gaza City to the south, in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. "We are declaring the Mawasi area a humanitarian zone, where work will be carried out to provide better humanitarian service," the Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X on Saturday morning. "Seize the opportunity to move to the humanitarian zone early and join the thousands who have already moved there," he added. Photos and videos on social media show leaflets dropped on Gaza City and central Gaza carrying the same message. A map in Adraee's statement, purporting to show humanitarian infrastructure set up in the south of the strip, shows no medical or food distribution sites north of the Netzarim Corridor which bisects the territory, leaving northern Gaza including all of Gaza City without humanitarian support. In response, Hamas' local front issued multiple statements on Telegram urging Palestinians in Gaza City not to flee southward, describing it as "the path to death." "Every time people believed the 'safe zones' lie, it ended with bloody massacres," it said on Friday. As of Wednesday, only 70,000 Palestinians had evacuated Gaza City out of approximately one million people, a senior Israeli official said, making up less than 10% of the total population. Gaza City residents told CNN they would rather die in their homes than to be displaced again. "I am staying in my home and will not be displaced again, until my last breath, even if it means death, because we are exhausted from displacement," Abu Yasser Al-Khour, a 51-year-old father of six, told CNN. The International Red Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pushed back against the mass evacuation of Gaza, calling it "unfeasible and incomprehensible." "Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care," ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said. Last month, Hamasaccepted Qatari and Egyptian mediators' most recent offerfor a 60-day temporary ceasefire, during which 10 of the living hostages would be returned in exchange for a mass release of Palestinian prisoners. The offer is based on a similar proposal presented by US special envoy Steve Witkoff in July, originally crafted in coordination with Israel. Israel is yet to provide a response to the offer, demanding, among other things, that Hamas disarm completely. Hamas has not committed to disarm, but says that Netanyahu wants to have "endless war" by not responding to the deal. In his remarks Friday, Trump warned that failure to secure a hostage deal could lead to a "tough situation." "It's going to be nasty – that's my opinion, Israel's choice, but that's my opinion," Trump said. "They gotta let them out." Pressed on what demands Hamas still has, Trump told reporters the organization is "asking for some things that are fine," but added, "You have to remember October 7." "You know, people forget October 7 – it's not an easy thing to forget, right?" he said. "But people forget, or they maybe purposely forget October 7. So, you know, you have to put that into the equation very strongly." And he said he'd spoken to families of the hostages still being held in Gaza. "They just want them back very badly, and everything that goes with it – so it's very sad," he said. CNN's Tal Shalev and Donald Judd contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com
Trump says some hostages may have 'recently died' in Gaza, as Israel calls on Palestinians to evacuate enclave's largest city US...
