Hamas has held direct phone calls with the families of hostages calling for prisoner exchanges that would involve freeing thousands of terrorists.

Speaking in limited English after picking up phone-calls from distressed relatives, the terrorists said simply: “Kidnap. Gaza. Gilad Shalit.”

Gilad Shalit is a former Israeli soldier who was kidnapped in 2006 and later exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Details of the phone calls with Hamas were revealed to The Telegraph by relatives of a family of 11 who were apparently taken hostage from the Be’eri kibbutz.

The extended family, which includes parents, three young children aged three to 12, cousins, a disabled uncle and his carer were kidnapped at gunpoint by Hamas, their home found burned to the ground on Saturday with the entire family missing.

It came amid reports that Qatar was mediating a potential prisoner swap for women and children between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas officials have publicly declared that they will not negotiate for the around 150 hostages they hold while Israel is bombing Gaza.

At least 17 British people are missing or dead following Hamas’ deadly assault on Saturday, the BBC reported.

It was a significant rise from the original figure of “at least 10” cited by the broadcaster’s source earlier this week.

On Wednesday, British national 26-year-old Jake Marlowe was confirmed to have been killed in the attacks.

Mr Marlowe had been a security worker at the Supernova music festival near the Gaza border, when it was stormed by gunmen.

On Wednesday night, his parents said they were “heartbroken” by the “crushing news” and said plans were being put in place to repatriate his body.

Annalee Milstein, who was out of the country with her husband Yuval when their 11 family members were taken by Hamas, pleaded with European governments.

“The Israeli government, the UN, European countries need to do whatever they can to get all of these hundreds of people kidnapped out of Gaza safe and sound. Get whoever is still safe and has a chance to continue living their lives out safe.”

Eight of the 11 family members have German, Austrian or Italian nationalities. The couple were in communication with their relatives when rockets started landing at 6.30am on Saturday and then as Hamas fighters entered the kibbutz.

“They said they were very scared together at home in the panic room. They didn’t know if they would make it. I had never heard Yuval’s father speak in such a hopeless way,” she said.

A video shows the devastation of their family home in Be’eri, where over 100 bodies were found. After Ms Milstein had tried for many hours to reach her missing relatives by phone, a man with a strong Arabic accent answered and said in broken Hebrew that they had been kidnapped.

Their phones’ locations show that they are in Gaza. On Wednesday, Germany called on Qatar, where Hamas leaders live, to mediate for the release of hostages.

“Various actors in the region, including Qatar, must play an important role, because they have channels that we do not have,” foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told MPs, ahead of a visit by Qatar’s emir to Berlin on Thursday.

Ms Milstein, a psychotherapist, expressed anger at the failures of Israel’s security, but most of all at the terrorists who took her family.

“I’m furious and mad at whoever didn’t help keep them safe but I’m most mad at Hamas, the people who kidnapped them. This is like an Isis move. It was so professional, they were practising for months.”

Ms Milstein even appealed to Hamas members to let the family go. The great-grandfather of the family, who died last year, had survived the Holocaust in Europe.

“When I heard about this on Saturday morning, I thought how crazy that these were a family of Holocaust survivors, they are huddled together scared of being taken away again,” Ms Milstein said.

“It’s absurd that this is happening again, in our own country.”

She described life on the Kibbutz, a semi-socialist farm rooted in Israel’s history, as a big family. Ms Milstein added: “It’s not only my house, my whole community was destroyed.

“Even if people survived this, it will never be the same community again. No one in this country will live like they before.”