Relatives of some of the 240 people held by Hamas in Gaza urged far-right Israeli lawmakers not to pursue proposed capital punishment for captured Palestinian fighters, saying that even talk of doing so might endanger the hostages, Reuters reports.

Some of the relatives of the people held captive by Hamas in Gaza worry the publicity around the capital punishment debate could invite reprisals even as hopes of a deal to free some of them is growing.

The hostages have already been threatened with execution by Hamas and are at risk of being hurt or killed.

“It would mean playing along with their mind games. And in return we would get pictures of our loves ones murdered, ended, with the State of Israel and not them (Hamas) being blamed for it,” Yarden Gonen, whose sister Romi is among the hostages, told Ben-Gvir and his party colleagues during a parliamentary panel.

“Don’t pursue this until after they are back here,” she said. “Don’t put my sister’s blood on your hands.”