President-elect Donald Trump with the family of Edan Alexander and, at right, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, on Oct. 07, 2024 at the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh
December 1, 2024
The families of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are urging President-elect Donald Trump to help finalize a hostage-ceasefire deal before his inauguration. Their pleas intensified following the release of a three-minute video on Saturday by Hamas in which Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old Israeli-American hostage, called on Trump to use his influence to secure his release.
“As an American, I’ve always believed in the power of the U.S.,” Alexander, a New Jersey native, said in the video, addressing Trump. “Please, use your influence and the full power of the U.S. to negotiate for our freedom.” He added that he fears meeting the same fate as a fellow American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose captors killed him with another five hostages in August.
In addition to Alexander, another three American hostages — Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Omer Neutra – are believed to still be alive. The bodies of three more — Itay Chen, Gadi and Judi Haggai — are still held in Gaza.
The White House is attempting a final push to get to a deal done. President Joe Biden said last week that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon had created an opportunity to reignite stalled negotiations for a similar deal in Gaza. “We will use every day we have in office to try to generate as much progress towards that end as possible,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said Sunday morning on ABC’s This Week.
Given the failed efforts in the past, the families of the American hostages are hoping Trump could leverage his popularity in Israel and his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take immediate action during the transition period. “Trump must not wait until he is inaugurated to help reach a deal that secures the freedom for Edan, six other Americans, and the rest of the hostages,” Adi and Yael Alexander, the parents of Edan, said on Saturday.
Trump’s Potential role in hostage negotiations
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who is advising Trump on foreign policy matters, told Axios that Trump is “focused on the hostages issue” and is eager to secure a deal that would free the hostages and bring an end to the war in Gaza before he assumes office on January 20.
Trump addressed the hostage crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza during the election season. At his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas about the hostages: “They better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price.”
He struck a less empathetic tone on the campaign trail. “I believe that many of the hostages that you’re waiting for — and everybody’s waiting for those hostages — many of them are dead, many of them are dead,” Trump told a pro-Israel crowd in May.
The president-elect reportedly changed his stance following a private meeting last month with Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs and a close aide to Netanyahu. During the meeting, Dermer shared Israel’s assessment that at least 60 of the 101 remaining hostages are believed to be alive. Biden and Trump also discussed the terms of the hostage-ceasefire agreement during their meeting in the Oval Office after the election. Sullivan, in an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation, said the Trump transition team has been “open and transparent” in working to solve the crisis in the Middle East.
Trump announced on Sunday that Massad Boulos, the Lebanese-American father-in-law of Tiffany Trump and a key emissary to Arab American voters during the campaign, will be his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
A fragile opportunity for a ceasefire in Gaza
The path to an agreement with Hamas remains uncertain.
The terrorist group used previous hostage negotiations to seek a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a condition for a three-phased ceasefire deal, while hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition threatened to topple the government if he agreed to end the war.
“I think the key actor right now holding the decision on the ceasefire is Hamas,” Sullivan said. He added that the conditions on the ground — Hezbollah agreeing to a ceasefire, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the degradation of their fighting force after 13 months of war — will force Hamas to compromise.
For now, the families of hostages are pinning their hopes on Trump’s willingness to act decisively, even before his presidency officially begins. That could give Netanyahu the political cover he needs to navigate resistance toward compromise, since Israelis in Netanyahu’s camp see Trump as a friend.
Adi Alexander, speaking at the start of a weekly march for the hostages in New York’s Central Park called for “courage, collaboration, and decisive action” to seal a deal. “I’m asking on behalf of my son, my family and all the families living this nightmare,” he said. “Do not let politics or bureaucracy stand in the way of humanity.”
Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents of hostage Omer Neutra and who spoke at the Republican convention in July, urged Biden and Trump “to seize this moment before January.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, pointed to Trump’s recent statements on possible tariffs — which spurred immediate engagement from the leaders of Mexico and Canada to address the border crisis — as evidence that Trump’s election is already yielding results. “This should be the top priority for both the current administration and the incoming administration to get these hostages out,” Lawler said on CNN’s State of the Union.
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