Only half of the 97 remaining hostages kidnapped to Gaza during the Hamas-led assault of southern Israel on Oct. 7 are still alive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said on Sunday.

"According to the information we have, half of the hostages in Gaza are alive," he told lawmakers during a closed meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Jerusalem, as quoted by Israel's Army Radio.

The terror group currently holds 101 hostages, including 97 of the 251 captured on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Sunday blamed Hamas for the impasse in cease-fire negotiations.

"I would say that we are not achieving any progress here in the last week to two weeks. Not for lack of trying," Kirby told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC's Sunday morning current events news program "This Week."

He suggested that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is not negotiating in good faith, saying this is particularly evident after the "execution-style" murders of six abductees in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza in late August.

"It doesn't appear as if he is willing to move this forward," said Kirby, emphasizing that the United States is still attempting to reach an agreement.

"The president talked about this a few days ago. Things can be unrealistic until all of a sudden they are realistic, and that's why our team is still engaged with Qatar, with Egypt, with the Israelis to see if we can't move it forward."

Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate