An anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and a delegation of eight freed Israeli hostages finally took place on Wednesday afternoon.
The White House released and then deleted footage of the unpublicized Oval Office meeting, with the freed hostage standing beside Trump’s desk. At the end of the conversation, Trump shook hands with each of the eight. (JNS sought comment from the White House about why the video was deleted.)
“My family and I, myself—we believe you’ve been sent by God to release us,” Omer Shem Tov told the president. “You really helped. You have the power to do it.”
Naama Levy told Trump that “you were our hope, and now you’re the hope of the rest of the hostages.”
“So, you didn’t think until I came along that you’re going to get out?” Trump asked.
The hostages answered “no” emphatically, seemingly in unison.
“Once you were elected, we heard that you want to do everything to make a deal as soon as possible,” Levy said.
Trump responded, “Well, we said ‘you better let them out.’ Something happened. We’re going to get the rest of them. We’re working on it very hard.”
The delegation consisted of Eli Sharabi, Doron Steinbrecher, Keith Siegel, Aviva Siegel, Levy, Shem Tov, Iair Horn and Noa Argamani. The group reportedly met with other U.S. administration officials, though neither the White House nor the National Security Council would confirm details.
“Today, President Trump took time to meet with eight of the released hostages from Gaza,” the White House stated. “The president listened intently to their heartbreaking stories. The hostages thanked President Trump for his steadfast efforts to bring all of the hostages home.”
Several of the freed hostages, who were kidnapped during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, attended Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. He mentioned the hostage situation only in passing during his long address that night.
Trump threatened Hamas in a social-media post after the Oval Office meeting, despite Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, confirming hours earlier that the administration was holding direct talks with Hamas about the release of American citizens still being held.
“‘Shalom Hamas’ means hello and goodbye—you can choose,” Trump wrote. “Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is over for you. Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted.”
“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job. Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” the president added. “Release the hostages now, or there will be hell to pay later.”
The delegation presented Trump with a plaque—a gift of the Hostage Aid Worldwide and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum—addressed to him that states, in English and Hebrew, that “whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” (The Hebrew is a paraphrase of a statement in the Mishnah.)
Trump reportedly invited the delegation to the White House for a Tuesday meeting after seeing an Israeli television interview with Sharabi, describing his harrowing experience in captivity.
But White House press officers said on Tuesday that they had no knowledge of any planned meeting or invitation and repeated that assertion on Wednesday. The meeting was not listed on Trump’s public schedule.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum stated that the eight former hostages met with Trump and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East.
“They thanked the president and the special envoy for their efforts in securing their release from Hamas hell and shared with them firsthand accounts about the urgency of returning all 59 remaining hostages—the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” per the forum.
“We are here today, in Washington, D.C., a group of released hostages,” stated Keith Siegel, according to the forum. “We came to the White House to express our great appreciation and gratitude to President Trump and his special envoy to the Middle East, Mr. Steve Witkoff.”
“They made a deal possible, they got us all home,” Siegel added. “We urged them to continue their enormous efforts. They have done so much. We trust them, and we know they will get the job done to get all the rest of the 59 remaining hostages held in Gaza back to their families, back to Israel.”