Sara Netanyahu silently mouthed “fewer” in Hebrew as her husband, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, affirmed “there are up to 24 hostages alive” during a meeting the Israeli leader held with the Independence Day torchbearers, in a video published on Tuesday.
PM Netanyahu: There are up to 24 living hostages in Gaza.Sarah responds quietly: “Less.”PM replies, emphasizing: “I said up to.” pic.twitter.com/Agf34iQGK9
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) April 29, 2025
Netanyahu subsequently replied, “I say up to. The rest, of course, are unfortunately no longer alive.”
Over 250 people were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip in the Hamas-led massacre perpetrated in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Some 59 hostages remain in Gaza captivity.
“Until today, we have returned 196 of our hostages, 147 alive,” Netanyahu said with regard to the hostages.
“The number of living hostages mentioned by the Prime Minister during the meeting with the torchlighters is indeed the correct official number, and it is also the official number submitted by the Coordinator for the Hostage and Missing Persons Affairs to the mediators during the negotiations,” an Israeli source involved in the negotiations confirmed.
Hostage deal negotiations
On Tuesday, an Israeli source said reports of a breakthrough in the hostage-ceasefire deal talks were inaccurate.
This came following a Monday report that said that negotiations were pointing in the opposite direction.
“If the prime minister’s wife has new information about kidnapped people who were killed, I demand to know whether my Matan is still alive or was he murdered in captivity because your husband refuses to end the war,” hostage mother Einav Zangauker wrote on X/Twitter.
The Hostage Families’ Forum added that Sara Netanyahu was sowing panic in families on the eve of Memorial day.
“Do you know something we don’t? We demand that the Prime Minister clarify his and his wife’s statements. If there is intelligence or new information regarding the condition of our loved ones, we demand full disclosure,” the forum said in a statement.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
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