A list of the 34 hostages who would be released in a deal between Israel and Hamas has triggered intense drama in Israel – and a gut-wrenching situation for families of hostages. So what is this list? Does it indicate Gaza cease-fire negotiations are progressing? And where does President-elect Trump fit in?

"Have you seen the list? Is it real? Was it leaked by Israel? Was it published by Hamas? What does the order of the names mean? What about the hostages who don't appear in it? Is it final, or can there still be changes?"

These questions dominated the morning news shows in Israel on Monday, and conversations between people in the streets and in the office. The list everyone was referring to contains the names of 34 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and it was published late Sunday night in a Saudi newspaper and by the BBC.

Within hours, the list of names went viral, shared thousands of times in Israeli WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels. By Monday morning, it had penetrated into the mainstream media, despite continuing uncertainty about its accuracy and authenticity.

Asharq al Awsat, the newspaper that first published the list, said the 34 names are those of the hostages due to be released if and when Israel and Hamas reach a temporary cease-fire and hostage deal in the coming days. They constitute, of course, only a third of the 100 hostages held by Hamas. If the Saudi report is accurate, the other two-thirds are bound to remain in the hands of Hamas even after this deal is completed.

The list caused great turmoil among the families of the hostages – both those whose names appear in it, and those whose loved ones were left out. It also impacted far wider circles.

Take for example my home, Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which still has two hostages in the hands of Hamas – 50-year-old Tsachi Idan and Omri Miran, 47, both of them fathers of young children. Tsachi's name appears on the list, supposedly because all hostages over the age of 50 will be part of the deal; Omri's name doesn't. This has created a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching situation for our entire community.

A public denial released later in the day by the Prime Minister's Office did little to reassure anyone. The short statement said that no list of hostages has been passed by Hamas to Israel, and sources within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office further briefed reporters that the 34 names on the list were, in fact, provided by Israel to the mediating countries several months ago.

Those sources added that some people on the list could be dead, and that Hamas has consistently refused to give Israel an organized list of all living and dead hostages; Hamas, for its part, claims that it needs three days of a cease-fire in order to collect that information.

But one question isn't being asked amidst all the drama, even though it is actually the most important one: Why is there a list to begin with?

Why are Israel and Hamas negotiating a deal to release 34 hostages, while there are 100 – half of them presumed to be alive – in the hands of the terror organization? Why aren't the two sides treating the entire list of hostages as the only relevant document, aiming to get all of them released at once?

This is the billion-dollar question in the hostage negotiations that have been painfully stuck in place over a year now, ever since the collapse of the week-long cease-fire in November 2023.

Hamas has been saying that it will only make another deal if it includes a clear Israeli commitment, backed up by international assurances, to end the war completely. Netanyahu says he will only make a deal if it doesn't lead to the end of the war. Attempts by the Biden administration, Qatar, Egypt and other mediators to overcome this difference have so far ended in failure.

For a moment last November, it seemed like Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election could finally end the deadlock, and push both sides to compromise enough in order to reach a deal. But if you believe the latest statements by both Israel and Hamas, this major roadblock still remains.

A majority of the Israeli public, according to recent polls, would support a deal that includes the release of all hostages in return for ending the war and removing Israeli troops from Gaza. Not without hesitation or fear, not without understanding that it means Hamas, despite suffering unprecedented losses during the war, would survive on the other side of the border.

But after 15 months of fighting, most Israelis believe this is the best and perhaps the only way to bring back all the hostages. Without their return, October 7 will never end, and the communities hardest hit by Hamas' massacre will never be able to recover. The strongest support for such a deal is concentrated within those very communities, who are yearning for the return of their hostages, alive.

The one missing piece in this puzzle is President-elect Trump's approach to the idea of one comprehensive deal for all the hostages. The Biden administration adopted Netanyahu's preference for a partial deal and a temporary cease-fire, which would allow Israel to renew the war after some hostages are released – and potentially sealing the fate of the others. It's not clear if Trump, upon entering the White House in two weeks, will offer Netanyahu the same support.

Trump has been escalating his threats toward Hamas, promising that "there will be hell to pay" if the hostages aren't released. Some of the hostages' families worry that this threat will have no leverage with the terror organization, since conditions in Gaza are already dire. Some worry that if "hell" means restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, not only Palestinian civilians will starve, but also the hostages held by the terrorists.

It should be noted that the six Israeli hostages murdered by Hamas in Rafah over the summer had all lost shocking percentages of their body weight before being executed, so this isn't a theoretical concern, but a very real option.

The bottom line is that the list of hostages, whether it is genuine or yet another form of psychological warfare by Hamas, is a side-story. The real question we should all be asking is how can we get all the hostages out. The one man who holds the answer in his hands is Trump; the hostage families can only hope he will make his intentions clear, even before January 20.