With just two weeks until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, Hamas claims to have approved a list of 34 hostages to be exchanged in a possible ceasefire deal with Israel, Reuters reports.
One of the hostages on the list is 19-year-old Liri Albag. Hamas released a propaganda video Saturday of Albag, one of the youngest hostages remaining in captivity following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that left 1,200 people dead.
“We’re starting a really dark year here,” Albag said in the video, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The world is starting to forget about us. No one cares about us. We’re living in a nightmare.”
Hollywood actress Gal Gadot, an Israeli citizen who is best known for her role as Wonder Woman, issued a statement Sunday shortly before the Golden Globes in response to the hostage video.
“On a personal level, while I prepare for a festive and joyous evening, my heart is heavy, and my soul aches knowing the hostages are still there,” Gadot wrote on Instagram.
Some Israel supporters were disappointed to see that Gadot, who presented an award for Best Actor in a drama, did not wear the yellow hostage pin to the Golden Globes. The Jerusalem Post reports that awards organizers forbid Gadot from wearing the pin because it could be seen as a political statement. The yellow ribbon pin is a symbol of remembrance for the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Gadot served in the Israel Defense Forces before becoming an A-list actress. Albag was also serving in the Defense Forces, as all Israeli citizens are required to do, when she was taken hostage.
There are 100 hostages still being held in Gaza, more than 30 of whom are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government.
Where the Hostage Deal Stands
On Monday, hostage deal talks continued through mediators between Hamas and Israel following reports that Hamas approved the names of 34 hostages to be released in a prisoner exchange. The deal, however, is contingent upon an end to the war.
A Hamas official, who spoke with Reuters on condition of anonymity, said any hostage exchange deal will only be agreed to alongside a permanent ceasefire agreement in which Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office responded to the news Monday saying that the “list of hostages that has been published in the media was not provided to Israel by Hamas but was originally given by Israel to the mediators in July 2024.”
The Israeli government added that it has not received any information from Hamas regarding whether each of the 34 hostages is even alive.
As negotiations progress, The New York Times reports that Israel has demanded Hamas provide information on the status of each hostage. Israeli officials say they cannot agree to a number of Palestinian prisoners to release in the exchange without first knowing which hostages on the list are even alive. But Hamas says it will not provide Israel with the information it seeks without receiving something in return, according to the Times.
The list of 34 hostages, according to The Times of Israel, includes 10 women, two children, and 22 men, including Israeli-American citizens Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen.
The two children:
- Ariel Bibas, 5
- Kfir Bibas, 1
The nine women in addition to Albag:
- Romi Gonen, 23
- Emily Damari, 27
- Arbel Yehud, 29
- Doron Steinbrecher, 31
- Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33
- Karina Ariev, 20
- Agam Berger, 21
- Danielle Gilboa, 20
- Naama Levy, 20
The 22 men:
- Ohad Ben-Ami, 58
- Gadi Moshe Moses, 80
- Keith Siegel, 65
- Ofer Calderon, 54
- Eli Sharabi, 52
- Itzik Elgarat, 70
- Shlomo Mansour, 86
- Ohad Yahalomi, 50
- Youssef Hamis Ziyadne, 54
- Oded Lifshitz, 84
- Tsahi Idan, 50
- Hisham al-Sayed, 36
- Yarden Bibas, 35
- Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36
- Yair Horn, 46
- Omer Wenkert, 23
- Sasha Trufanov, 28
- Eliya Cohen, 27
- Or Levy, 34
- Avera Mengistu, 38
- Tal Shoham, 39
- Omer Shem-Tov, 22
The list does not include American hostage Edan Alexander, who just marked his 21st birthday while still in captivity on Dec. 29.
The release of the list of hostages comes two weeks before Trump’s inauguration. In early December, Trump issued a clear statement on social media site Truth Social, warning that “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity” if the hostages were not released by the time he is sworn into office on Jan. 20.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” Trump wrote, adding, “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
Apart from the three American hostages still believed to be alive in Gaza, the dead bodies of four other American-Israeli citizens are thought to still be in Gaza.
Editor’s Note: This piece was updated after publication to note that Gadot did not wear the yellow hostage pin to the Golden Globes.