Daily Caller News Foundation

WASHINGTON — As diplomats met in Egypt on Tuesday to decide the Middle East’s future, civilians kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and relatives of those in captivity gathered at the Kennedy Center to express optimism for President Donald Trump’s efforts toward peace.

Dozens of attendees commemorated two years since Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, an event hosted one week after the White House released a 20-point plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and release the 48 remaining hostages or their bodies. Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians went into their second day on Tuesday in Cairo, with U.S. officials planning to arrive on Wednesday to push for Trump’s proposal, according to CNN.

“I’m hoping and praying. It looks like we’re really, really close,” Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American hostage freed in February, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “That’s encouraging, and … it makes my optimism even higher.”

“I am eternally grateful to President Trump for bringing me back alive and many others, and I am also grateful to him putting out his proposal, working on it so hard,” Siegel, a California native, told the DCNF.

“Hamas is responsible, responsible for all of this suffering, this tragedy of the last two years,” Siegel said. “It’s up to them to agree.”

Trump also received praise from Yotam Cohen, whose younger brother, Nimrod, was an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) member abducted from a burning tank during the Oct. 7 massacre. The president’s “tireless work and concern” in getting leaders to negotiate with one another gives Cohen hope that he will see his brother again, he told reporters.

“Only this has brought us to this fateful week,” he said.

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Trump’s 20-point plan would require Hamas to release all hostages, while Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, along with 1,700 people detained after the Oct. 7 invasion and bodies of deceased Gazans. Other agreements would include Hamas fighters laying down arms for good and receiving amnesty.

Both Israel’s government and Hamas have expressed some willingness to accept the peace plan. Hamas announced Friday that it is willing to hand over remaining hostages and relinquish power over Gaza to other Palestinians, but said it wants to discuss other agreements further, The Associated Press reported.

Liran Berman, the older brother of two twins taken by Hamas, said that Trump’s deal brings hope “for the first time in a long time.”

“After so many broken promises and false hopes, this one, this one, feels different. It feels real,” Berman told a group of reporters.

“We’ve been here before. We’ve watched opportunities collapse because of politics and pride,” Berman said. “We cannot afford another one. Not after 2 years.”

Iair Horn, whom Hamas held for nearly 500 days, said Trump sent a letter to hostages’ families earlier Tuesday morning that reaffirmed his commitment to bringing them home.

“We are really grateful and hopeful,” said Horn, whose younger brother is still held in captivity. “I’m glad that this man, this man, Donald Trump, is behind us.”

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“We already lived through 2 years of pain,” Horn said. “We cannot allow this deal to collapse, not again.”

Israel and Hamas previously reached a temporary ceasefire days before Trump took office, which led to an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian inmates over several weeks. The outgoing Biden administration praised Trump’s team in January as “absolutely critical” in securing the deal. The ceasefire fell apart in March after both sides accused the other of violating it and Israel resumed strikes in Gaza.

“Only because of your courage and determination, Mr. President, I’m standing here today,” said Arbel Yehoud, a hostage freed on January 30, as she spoke during an opening vigil for Oct. 7 victims. White House counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also attended the vigil.

Yehoud pleaded for Trump to bring home her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, and around 20 other captives believed to be alive. She described Ariel tightly holding her hand while they rode with their kidnappers in a car — just before they “tore him away” and she never saw him again.

“They must come home now,” she said.

The Trump administration also aided Israel in June by bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities after months of military attacks between the two nations. Iran agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Israel two days later.

“President Trump, please don’t stop now,” Berman said about the president’s diplomacy. “You’ve brought us this far. Finish what you started, what we know and trust you can.”

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