U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday posted a video clip of released Israeli hostage Agam Berger, thanking him for helping negotiate her freedom from Hamas captivity and asking “to bring everyone home.”
Berger, 20, was abducted from the Nahal Oz military post during the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist invasion, along with several other female field observers who had tried to alert the military of suspicious movements along the Gaza border before the attack. The Israel Defense Forces soldier was released on Jan. 30, after 482 days in Gaza captivity, as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“I want to take this chance to say to you, President Trump: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and continue to do for the hostages,” Berger said in the recording shared on Truth Social.
“Thanks to you, we are home. But we must remember that there are still people who truly depend on you and are waiting for you to save them,” Berger continued. “They are waiting for your help and you have the power to do it. I beg you: Don’t stop until all the hostages—both the living and the deceased—are brought back as quickly as possible.”
The ex-hostage added, “You are my hope. I want to say that I went through many hardships there. The days didn’t pass; they stood still. Every night and day felt like eternity. That’s how those still there feel.”
Berger noted that Monday marked 500 days since Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages back to Gaza as part of the Oct. 7 massacre.
“We must act fast to bring everyone home. They’re just waiting to be rescued,” the freed Israeli captive urged in her message to Trump.
According to official Israeli estimates, 73 hostages remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza after 500 days, including 70 abducted during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.
The three latest returnees from Hamas captivity were reunited on Saturday with their families—American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, 29, who has dual Russian-Israeli citizenship; and Argentinean-Israeli Iair Horn, 46. Saturday’s release was the sixth such round under phase one of the ceasefire deal.
Trump on Saturday congratulated the returned hostages, but made clear that their release fell short of his calls to free all the captives at once.
“Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their [Hamas’s] statement last week that they would not release any Hostages,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!” he added, apparently referring to U.S. Eastern Time, or 7 p.m. in Israel.
Trump’s deadline was a reference to his previous warning that the “gates of hell” could be unleashed if Hamas did not release all of the hostages.
