SCOOP: Former hostages, family members hope that Trump’s Iran success will force Hamas to release hostages

THE LOWDOWN:

• As President Donald Trump continues to push for the terrorists who run the Gaza Strip to release hostages who are still illegally held, a group of former hostages and family members of current hostages came to D.C. to demand Hamas release their loved ones from captivity.

• The group met with top administration officials, including President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and others.

• Following Trump’s success in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, released hostage Yair Horn feels optimistic that “if there’s someone who can do this, who can sell the deal, it’s President Trump.”

• Another Israeli who met with top Trump figures is Ilay David, whose brother Evyatar David was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7th by Palestinian terrorists.

As President Donald Trump continues to push for the terrorists who run the Gaza Strip to release hostages who are still illegally held, a group of former hostages and family members of current hostages came to D.C. to demand Hamas release their loved ones from captivity.

The group met with top administration officials, including President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and others.

Yair Horn, who was “kidnapped from [his] home” by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, is pressing for the release of his little brother Eitan.

Trump was reelected while Horn was held hostage in tunnels in Gaza. He had “no TV, no radio” in the tunnels, but one day a “terrorist came and told us President Trump got elected, so we knew that is someone who can do things.”

“Then our hope was empowering [and I] just want to thank him,” Horn said.

For Horn, conditions didn’t improve in captivity after Trump was elected, but there were some hostages who “they started to feed after President Trump got elected.”

“It was the same food [for me], which was very little, maybe a pita bread and beans, hummus. I lost 60 pounds in captivity,” Horn said. “Right now I'm dealing with a lot of problems, like my hearing is not good, my mouth, my teeth, and also psychological problems.”

While Horn is free, his brother remains hostage. The two were “held together,” and he currently “hope[s] he is still alive.”

“The last time I saw him was a few days before my release in February… I'm feeling Eitan is still alive,” Horn said. “I don't really know. But…that's also what makes me survive all the 500 days of faith, hope and humor.”

Following Trump’s success in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, Horn feels optimistic that “if there’s someone who can do this, who can sell the deal, it’s President Trump.”

“But,” he said, “I’m just a simple man. I don’t know politics. I don’t know diplomacy. I’m a simple man who’s advocating for his brother, to get him back, along with all of the remaining 50 hostages.”

“We are now a big family. Everybody is advocating for our loved ones, and for all 50 of them,” Horn added.

Another Israeli who met with top Trump figures is Ilay David, whose brother Evyatar David was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7th by Palestinian terrorists.

“[Evyatar] was kidnapped alongside his best friend Guy, and they have been held alive in the dungeons of Gaza, of Hamas, since. They are being suffocated, suffering every second. They are being starved down there, being held in a very small space of three feet wide on a 30-foot-long terror tunnel with insufficient food, no fresh water, no fresh air, no sunlight, no communication to the outside world. Everything is manipulated by their captors. They are decaying down there.”

“Somehow,” David said, “they’ve survived for more than 600 days and we'll do anything to bring them back. And now it feels like there's an opportunity because of what happened with Iran recently, the tremendous attack on Iran with Israel.”

“And it really feels like we are in a crucial time right now and there's a real path to bringing back all the hostages very soon, safely, all 50 of them, and I think it will also lead to the next stage of the Middle East,” David continued.

David detailed the excruciating levels of psychological torture employed by Palestinian terrorists, who had promised his brother that he would be released — and even let him watch other hostages get let go, only to detain him again.

“Four months ago, Evyatar was told he's going to be released,” David said. “He was sent out of the tunnel to watch other hostages being released with his friend Guy…Guy, [who is] 24 years old just wants to play music, have fun, travel the world, achieve dreams.”

Evyatar and Guy “were sent to watch their friends being released. As far as we know they were sent after this video back into the tunnel and it's crazy sick torture that they have to endure every day there.”

“The torture in the tunnels is physical but mostly mental and emotional, and they are being held by sick people who are searching to torture them. [Their captors] are very dangerous; they can kill them at any moment. Every second there is an eternity [for those] young people [who want] to live and survive to go back to their families, to go back to their communities, and to their friends.”

Ilay and Evyatar used to play the guitar together.

“Every week with our parents we manifest that very soon, we will play music again,” David said.

The power of music has inspired musicians like John Ondrasik, whose stage name is Five for Fighting, to dedicate songs to hostages. Ondrasik recently took D.C. by storm, and he spoke with the Washington Reporter about his work to raise awareness for the ongoing hostage crisis.

Both Horn and David said that support from Americans of all religions has been critical in the almost two years since the terrorist attack.