From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Defense officials said to refuse to draw up a partial list of hostages if limited deal reached; PM denies report
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Senior officials in the defense establishment have informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will not compile a partial list of hostages if Hamas agrees to release a limited number of captives in a potential ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports this evening.
High-ranking Mossad officials informed Mossad chief David Barnea that “there is no reasonable way” to create such a list, as all hostages equally need to be freed, according to the network.
In addition, a senior defense official told Netanyahu that “I will not compile a partial list. If it comes to that, I will give the data to [Strategic Affairs Minister] Ron Dermer, let him decide, or let the prime minister decide. Or they’ll decide not to decide and leave it to Hamas to determine the list.”
“In any case, I made it clear that I will not be the one to decide who is released in a partial deal like this and who is not,” the network quotes the official as saying in Hebrew.
The list of hostages slated for release during the first phase of the January ceasefire agreement was formulated in the middle of last year, based partly on information provided by the hostages’ families regarding the different health conditions of their loved ones, notes Channel 12.
The report cites another senior security official saying that “we’ve asked several times to convene a special discussion in which the decision-makers would be presented with all the data we have on the conditions of the living hostages.”
“They don’t want to. They run away from it like fire. It’s clear to everyone that this is a highly explosive issue,” says the official.
Netanyahu’s office denies the report, calling it “another piece of fake news from an anonymous and irresponsible source on Channel 12.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is fully and continuously updated on the condition of the hostages, according to the information available to Israel,” says the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.
The Times of Israel Community.