Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike at the Al-Jurn neighborhood, in Gaza City, on May 23, 2025. Photo by Ali Hassan/Flash90
Palestinian terror groups are reportedly considering moving the remaining Israeli hostages to Gaza City in a bid to pressure Israel to halt its planned occupation of the city, according to the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
Citing unnamed sources from several of the Palestinian militant groups, the report stated that they are discussing an attempt to move the hostages to Gaza City in an effort to “link the fate of the lives of some of the living hostages to the decisions of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
While the groups had previously sought to preserve the lives of the hostages as leverage for concessions from Israel, they are now considering a change of tactics following the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to conquer and occupy Gaza City.
The sources claim the proposal has been discussed for several days “at senior levels inside and outside the Gaza Strip.”
One of the officials told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The price to be paid must be high – not only in the lives of the soldiers who will enter the city, but also in the lives of the kidnapped Israelis, who we believe are no more important than the blood of our people.”
The official also said, “We cannot stand idly by as these Israeli crimes against our people continue, and as they attempt to force them to flee their homes once again in order to seize control of Gaza City and the north, imposing a new reality on their future.”
“Even in the most difficult circumstances,” another source stated. “We are convinced that Netanyahu and his government ministers do not care about the lives of their captives, but we also cannot accept sacrificing the lives of our citizens, or making them pay the price alone.”
According to the report, if hostages are transferred, the militants guarding them could kill the captives if they felt threatened by nearby IDF troops.
The sources who spoke to the Saudi-affiliated newspaper claim that the militants holding the hostages often deprived themselves of food supplies to ensure the hostages received sufficient food, however, the testimonies of returned hostages contradict this.
Several released hostages testified that their captors often ate in front of them while giving them only meager portions of food.
According to local Channel 7 news, Israeli officials are investigating the report, though some suspect it is a propaganda effort by the terror groups to exploit public sympathy for the hostages and increase pressure on the government amid the recent protests .
Lt. Col. (Res.) Alon Eviatar, an expert in Palestinian affairs, warned on Army Radio that the plan by the terror groups to move the hostages to Gaza City represents a significant risk to the military’s ability to carry out the campaign to capture the city.
“To concentrate, if not all, then most of the hostages inside the city and in the tunnels, using them as a human shield against an IDF incursion, especially into hardcore Hamas strongholds, presents Israel with a very significant deterrent,” Lt. Col. Eviatar said.
He also warned that Hamas “will exploit this threat to the fullest to prevent a broad and massive IDF entry.”
