Families of Israeli captives fear Trump's Gaza plan could derail their release

The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza fear US President Donald Trump's plan to take control of the enclave and expel Palestinians to other countries could upend the ceasefire deal and derail any chances of their release.

Yehuda Cohen, the father of detained Israeli soldier Nimrod Cohen, told Middle East Eye that for him, and the families of other Israeli captives held in Gaza, there was a genuine concern that the president's plan could force Hamas to abandon the deal.

"Any discussion that creates controversy about the day after, let's leave that for later, because first of all, Hamas really might have fears about that and might stop the process," Cohen told MEE.

"Our terrible government... will exploit this for its narrow interests, to please [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, and also actually once again, to prioritise an ideology that is very - let's call it racist - over its basic duty to secure the lives of Israeli civilians and soldiers."

Earlier this week, Trump, whilst speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said his administration would "take over" the enclave, relocate its inhabitants elsewhere and turn the territory into the "riviera of the Middle East."

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