Three freed Israeli hostages personally thanked President Trump for their rescue — but urged him not to forget those still in captivity.
Iair Horn, 46, and Keith and Aviva Siegel, both 65, joined Trump onstage at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s President’s Dinner in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to thank him for his efforts in negotiating a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“President Trump, you saved my life. You saved the lives of 33 hostages,” Keith Siegel told the president as he took the podium to thunderous applause.
“You set the hostage crisis at the highest priority. You got 33 of us home alive. We all owe our lives to you,” he added, according to the Times of Israel.
Siegel — a North Carolina native who was kidnapped from the Israeli home he shares with his wife on October 7, 2023 — was among the first hostages released in February during the latest ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
He came back gaunt after 484 days captive in Gaza, where he says he was deprived of food and sunlight during a hellish 15-month ordeal.
“President Trump. I am here and I am alive. President Trump, you saved my life,” he said.
His wife Avia, who was freed by the terror group during a ceasefire in November 2023, thanked the president for “bringing my Keith home” and making their family “the most happiest.”
She then urged him to do the same for the remaining hostages.
“We need you to bring all the hostages home. There are 24 that are alive and 59 to come home to their families, just like I received Keith,” Aviva Siegel said, pointing out that Horn was a hopeful family member himself.
Horn’s brother, Eitan, remains captive in Gaza. Horn said the hostages he was held with had hope when they learned Trump had been elected.
“We didn’t see the light, but when we heard President Trump get elected, we knew, we knew, that there’s now someone who makes things happen,” he said.
“I’ve been in hell for 498 days. I’ve been held in hell with Hamas terrorists.”
President Trump himself had harsh words for the terror group — and said the former hostages onstage with him were “brave souls” for surviving captivity.
“These people, what they had to go through, is just horrible,” he said. “Hamas is just a disaster, their level of hatred.”
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, all but 59 have been released — but only 24 of those still in captivity are believed to be alive, including American Edan Alexander.