Trump’s Middle East Trip Gives Hope To Families Of Hamas Hostages

The American-Israeli families of hostages held by Hamas see President Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia in mid-May as an opportunity to break through nearly two months of stalemate between Hamas and Israel and eventually bring their loved ones home after nearly 600 days in captivity. 

And they say it's time for Trump to pressure Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. Trump is chasing a major diplomatic breakthrough in brokering ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but Riyadh is holding back over Israel’s insistence on continuing the war. 

“I believe the president is a very tough person, and he should be tough with the enemies, and with the friends as well – and the friends, I’m talking about Israel,” said Adi Alexander, whose 21-year-old son Edan is one of five Americans held hostage by Hamas.

Two weeks ago, the Alexanders received rare proof that Edan is alive, appearing in a Hamas propaganda 

video, pleading for his life and release. 

Yael Alexander, Edan’s mother, said her son looked like a “shadow of himself.” She had not seen him since Oct. 2, 2023, less than a week before Hamas’s terrorist attack on the country where approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. 

Hamas continues to hold 59 hostages, although only about 24 are believed to be alive. Four of the Americans are confirmed dead. 

“Really, I have this hope and I’m praying a lot that President Trump and his team can do it, can make it happen,” Yael Alexander told a small group of journalists in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. 

“I’m also going to be in Israel around May 12 when he’s going to be in the region, I’m really hoping to get the phone call, ‘Hey Yael, get on a plane you’re coming back with Edan to New Jersey.’”

Trump is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 to May 16.

Trump has reveled in his success in securing the release of Americans abroad. The Trump administration says it has negotiated the freedom of at least 26 Americans imprisoned in countries including Afghanistan, Russia and Venezuela. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the administration had secured the release of an American detained in Belarus.

But efforts to free Edan, and the bodies of four other Americans held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have hit a wall.

In January, Trump helped push over the finish line President Biden’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which lasted for six weeks. The first phase of the three-phase deal provided for the release of 33 women, children, civilian men over the age of 50, and those deemed “humanitarian cases.” Hamas also released five Thai nationals not included in the deal.

But efforts to move to a second phase unraveled in March, with Israel and Hamas accusing the others of violating the terms of the deal and the Trump administration failing to provide a workable new option. 

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for negotiations to free the hostages, also holds responsibility for negotiating with Russia over its war in Ukraine, and with Iran over it’s nuclear program. 

In March, Witkoff proposed extending the first phase of the deal to allow for more hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but Hamas rejected it for failing to move toward a more permanent end to the war. 

Alexander said Witkoff is in communication with the families nearly every day, and they are in touch with Adam Boehler, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, at least once a week. 

Boehler engaged in direct talks with Hamas in March and said the U.S.-designated terrorist group proposed a five-to-10-year truce with Israel in exchange for releasing all the hostages. But his talks with Hamas angered members of Netanyahu’s fragile governing coalition, who advocate focusing on the military operation in Gaza over a deal to free the hostages. 

Adi Alexander said Boehler’s March talks marked the closest point to getting Edan released, and said since then there’s no clear strategy. In April, Boehler said that fighting could end immediately if Hamas released the hostages, but a top aide to Netanyahu said the war is likely to go on for another year. 

Ronen Neutra, wearing a piece of duct tape with 572 written on it, marking the days of captivity for his son Omer, said the hostages can not wait even one more day. 

“And we’re asking ourselves, do we want to be here next year, again, waiting for our loved ones? Knowing that they are dying there, they are tortured, they are starved and some of the remains may disappear under the rubble?” he said.

“We are calling for action now. There is an opportunity and we’re speaking directly to President Trump and saying we trust your leadership, we know you care and we want you to put the pressure and do whatever it takes to bring our loved ones, the five Americans and the other 54 hostages… they all have to return home.” 

The Alexanders were in Washington along with Neutra and his wife Orna Neutra, and Ruby and Hagit Chen, who's son Itay was killed on Oct. 7, his body still held by Hamas. Their meetings in Washington coincided with Israel's Memorial Day, an emotional day remembering fallen soldiers and those killed amid war and terrorism.