Israel has sought to enlist Elon Musk’s help in reviving hostage negotiations with Hamas, according to reports in US media.

A source close to the Israeli hostage families, who spoke with Herzog and is familiar with the conversation, told CNN: “There was a chat between [Herzog] and a few hostage families, where one of the subjects discussed was influence on Trump, and Elon Musk’s name came up as someone of influence on Trump. Therefore, keeping an open channel with him is important.”

Musk attended Netanyahu’s controversial speech before a joint session of Congress earlier this year. He previously met with Netanyahu during a visit to Israel last year, as the tech leader sought to quell accusations of antisemitism after personally endorsing a post on his social network X, formerly Twitter, that claimed Jews hate white people.