Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
A picture of slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin hang on a building in Jerusalem, December 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The list of 34 hostages Hamas sent to a Saudi outlet was merely the list of 40 hostages Israel submitted in July for release in the first phase of a hostage deal, minus five hostages since killed in Gaza and one who was rescued. The Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel it does not specify which of the 34 are alive, and indeed includes no information on the status of the 34.
The July 27 list included Farhan al-Qadi, who was rescued in August.
Relatives and friends of rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi welcome him as he returns to the southern village of Khirbet Karkour, near the Bedouin city of Rahat, August 28, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli / AFP)
It also included four of the hostages murdered in late August – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi. Ori Danino and Alex Lobanov were killed alongside the four others, but were not on the July list of “humanitarian” hostages because they were “healthy” young men. Hamas deems all Israeli men of military age to be soldiers.
This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. They were murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza in August 2024. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)
Also on the list was Avraham Munder, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. On August 20, 2024, the kibbutz announced he had been killed while in captivity in Gaza and his body had been brought back from the Strip by the IDF.
Avraham Munder (Courtesy)
“They haven’t said who is alive and who is not. They haven’t sent any list,” says the PMO official. “So, as far as we stand, there isn’t any progress.”
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