Israel says 24 hostages alive in Gaza after Trump's comments alarm families

Israel has said 24 hostages are alive in Gaza - after Donald Trump said there were 21.

The US president told reporters on Tuesday that three more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had died - alarming their families. In a post on X on Wednesday, Gal Hirsch, Israel's coordinator for hostage issues, said the Palestinian militant group was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead - figures unchanged since before Mr Trump's comments.

He said 54 of the 59 were Israeli citizens and five of them were foreign nationals. "All families of the kidnapped are always updated with the information we have about their loved ones," he said.

The group representing the families of hostages had asked the Israeli government to share any new information with them immediately following Mr Trump's comments. It argues that Israel should stop the fighting and negotiate the release of the remaining hostages.

"This is the most urgent and important national mission," it said on a post on X. Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far have been released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.

The most recent ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners fell apart in March. Hamas took 251 hostages in its attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which it killed 1,200 people.

Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war.

Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza - increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time. The plan includes seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies..