Three freed Israeli hostages personally thanked President Trump for his or her rescue — however urged him to not neglect these nonetheless in captivity.
Iair Horn, 46, and Keith and Aviva Siegel, each 65, joined Trump onstage on the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee’s President’s Dinner in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to thank him for his efforts in negotiating a ceasefire cope with Hamas.
“President Trump, you saved my life. You saved the lives of 33 hostages,” Keith Siegel advised the president as he took the rostrum to thunderous applause.
“You set the hostage disaster on the highest precedence. You bought 33 of us house alive. All of us owe our lives to you,” he added, based on the Instances of Israel.
Siegel — a North Carolina native who was kidnapped from the Israeli house he shares along with his spouse on October 7, 2023 — was among the many first hostages launched in February through the newest ceasefire and prisoner alternate.
He got here again gaunt after 484 days captive in Gaza, the place he says he was disadvantaged of meals and daylight throughout a hellish 15-month ordeal.
“President Trump. I’m right here and I’m alive. President Trump, you saved my life,” he mentioned.
His spouse Avia, who was freed by the fear group throughout a ceasefire in November 2023, thanked the president for “bringing my Keith house” and making their household “essentially the most happiest.”
She then urged him to do the identical for the remaining hostages.
“We want you to convey all of the hostages house. There are 24 which are alive and 59 to come back house to their households, identical to I acquired Keith,” Aviva Siegel mentioned, stating that Horn was a hopeful member of the family himself.
Horn’s brother, Eitan, stays captive in Gaza. Horn mentioned the hostages he was held with had hope after they discovered Trump had been elected.
“We didn’t see the sunshine, however after we heard President Trump get elected, we knew, we knew, that there’s now somebody who makes issues occur,” he mentioned.
“I’ve been in hell for 498 days. I’ve been held in hell with Hamas terrorists.”
President Trump himself had harsh phrases for the fear group — and mentioned the previous hostages onstage with him had been “courageous souls” for surviving captivity.
“These folks, what they needed to undergo, is simply horrible,” he mentioned. “Hamas is only a catastrophe, their stage of hatred.”
Of the 251 folks taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, all however 59 have been launched — however solely 24 of these nonetheless in captivity are believed to be alive, together with American Edan Alexander.
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