Former President Donald Trump has called for the release of five Americans still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
“Let’s all remember the American hostages being held in Gaza. They must be brought home!” said the Republican presidential candidate, 78. Posted on Truth Social Tuesday.
The five hostages — Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg Polin, Sagui Dekel Chen and Keith Siegel — have been held by Hamas since they were kidnapped on October 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took another 250 hostages.
Ten months later, the terrorist group is still holding a total of around 120 hostages.
But ongoing U.S.-backed ceasefire and hostage talks have been stalled indefinitely, with officials pledging an Iranian military response to the killing of its chief negotiator, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran last week.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist commander, Fouad Shukr, was also killed in the Beirut attack, raising ominous new threats against Israel from Iran-allied militants.
Officials familiar with the tense negotiations said on Monday that talks in Qatar would not resume until it was clear how Iran and Hezbollah would retaliate for the Israeli assassination.
Hamas has indicated it will not continue negotiations until it has selected a successor to Haniyeh to head Hamas’ political bureau, which oversees militant governance in the Gaza Strip.
President Trump issued a strong warning to Hamas in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last month, warning the terrorist group that it would pay a “very high price” if the prisoners were not released.
Alexander, 19, is from New Jersey and serves in the Israel Defense Forces. [IDF] The soldier had just graduated from high school when he was kidnapped near Gaza.
Neutra, a 22-year-old IDF paramedic from New York City, was taken away while rushing to protect a residential village near the Gaza border in southern Israel, his family reported last week, exactly 300 days after he was held captive by Hamas.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, had her arm blown off by a grenade when Hamas fighters stormed the Supernova music festival in southern Israel on October 7. Earlier this year, Goldberg-Polin appeared in a Hamas propaganda video with her amputated arm, looking shockingly gaunt.
Dekel Chen (35 years old) Protect your familyHe had been held captive in his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz since October 7. He is the son of Connecticut-born Hebrew University professor Jonathan Dekel Chen, who has been pressuring US authorities to secure his release.
Siegel, a 64-year-old father of four from North Carolina and father of five grandchildren, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife, Aviva, a 62-year-old teacher. He was finally found alive in a video released by Hamas in April.
Aviva Siegel, who taught Jewish and Arab children, was one of dozens of hostages released in a ceasefire in November.
