Keith Siegel and Iair Horn, who were freed from Hamas captivity during the most recent deal, and Keith’s wife Aviva who was freed in the first deal in November of 2023, took the stage at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraising dinner on Tuesday evening.
The three personally thanked US President Donald Trump for his role in securing their release and to call on him to continue pushing for the return of dozens still held in Gaza.
“They went through unimaginable suffering,” Trump said as he introduced the men. “Come on up.”
Keith Siegel gave a heartfelt message directly to the President.
“President Trump, I'm here, and I'm alive,” he said. “President Trump, you saved my life. You saved the life of 33 hostages.”
He went on to describe the significance of Trump’s leadership, saying, “Because of your efforts and your setting the hostage crisis as a high priority — among all of the enormous issues and things that you're dealing with since you came into your position as president of the United States — you got 33 of us home alive. We all owe our lives to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Siegel appealed to Trump to maintain his focus on the issue. “Please continue your tremendous efforts and your tremendous actions and your tremendous accomplishments. And we will get, with your help, all of the remaining 59 hostages still in Gaza back home. Thank you.”
Aviva Siegel said, “Thank you, President Trump, for bringing my Keith home. Keith's grandchildren are the happiest, Keith's children are the happiest, Keith's family is the happiest, but I am the most happiest. Thank you so much.”
She added, “We need you. We need you to bring all the hostages home. There's 24 that are alive and 59 to come home to their families. We have Iair standing here with us and Eitan, his brother, is underneath the ground now begging to get out. So I'm begging you all to help us. We need your help. Thank you.”
Horn, whose brother Eitan remains in Hamas captivity, recounted the harrowing ordeal of his captivity.
“My name is Iair. I've been in hell for 498 days,” he said. “Have been held in hell with Hamas terrorists. We didn't see the light.”
Horn added that morale among the hostages lifted when they heard Trump had won the election: “But we feel — when we heard President Trump get elected — we knew, we knew. That is now someone who makes things happen. Thank you.”
After the hostages spoke, Trump said, “This is a terrible thing that's going on with Hamas. The hatred is so incredible. It's unbelievable. And the way they were made to live was not even understandable, I think, by anybody in this audience, and you have great people in this audience that love you, and they're going to fight for you. And I just want to thank you very much. Thank you.”
“We’ll not rest until your loved ones have been returned home, and hopefully we can do it the right way. We want to get those 24 out really fast, and we’re working on it very hard,” he stated.