US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Friday with the relatives of hostages held in Gaza for the first time since he entered office in January, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

“The real victory in Gaza will be achieved only when all the hostages return home,” Rubio told the representatives of the families at the meeting in Washington DC, according to the forum.

According to the forum, Rubio told the hostages’ relatives that the United States has proven that it is making a significant impact in the Middle East and emphasized Israel’s recent victories against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon and the Iranian regime.

The meeting was attended by Moshe Lavie, Omri Miran’s brother-in-law; Ilya David, Evyatar David’s brother; Tzur Goldin, the brother of Hadar Goldin; and freed hostage Iair Horn, whose brother Eitan is still in captivity in Gaza.

The relatives told Rubio that there was a window of opportunity to reach a deal to release all the hostages and expressed faith that the administration of US President Donald Trump would work toward that goal.

The families expressed their confidence in the Trump administration’s ability to take urgent action on the matter and told Rubio that it was time for a “bold decision” that would see all the hostages home “in one fell swoop.”

Trump on Friday said he thinks a ceasefire will be reached in the Gaza Strip “within the next week.”

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he just spoke with some of the individuals involved in trying to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal, without further elaborating.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.

Hamas is also holding the body of Goldin, an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.