I, like many of us, woke up on Tuesday to the terrible news that the ceasefire collapsed. The same ceasefire that enabled my return. Yesterday was also my 32nd birthday – my 31st was spent in captivity. I have only one wish for my birthday: that all my brothers and sisters return home from captivity. I was fortunate enough to be released two months ago, but the other hostages are still there, suffering, being tortured. It has been 530 days, which is far too many. Only a deal can bring them all home – we need an agreement now.
I was born in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a small community where everyone knows each other. It’s a place where neighbors become family. On October 7, 2023, that family was shattered when I was kidnapped under gunfire from beneath my own bed and dragged into Gaza. For 471 days, I existed in tunnels underground, enduring trauma too profound to fully recall or express.
When I was finally released, just a day before President Trump’s inauguration, I emerged from darkness into light. I am alive today because of the tireless efforts of many, and significantly because of President Trump’s commitment to bringing hostages home. For this, I am eternally grateful.
Recently, I had the deeply meaningful opportunity to meet with President Trump. He listened intently as I shared my story and emphasized the critical importance of bringing home all remaining hostages. During our meeting, I specifically told him about Gali and Ziv Berman, the last two hostages from Kfar Aza – my former neighbors who remain in captivity.
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Gali lived directly across from me, and Ziv was just down the path. We lived in what was called the “young generation” neighborhood of the kibbutz – a small garden lined with bungalows where 37 of us in our twenties and thirties lived.
The story of Kfar Aza’s young generation neighborhood tells the devastating story of October 7th. Of the 37 residents, 11 were murdered and seven were kidnapped that day. Today, more than 520 days later, 27-year-old twins Gali and Ziv are the only two still in captivity. In a kibbutz, proximity breeds a special kind of bond. You don’t need to be someone’s closest friend to feel responsible for them – they are part of your community, part of your extended family.
When I share my story, it’s enormously difficult. The weight of those 470 days presses down on me with every word. Yet, I speak because I understand the urgent necessity of conveying what life is like in captivity. I know firsthand what Gali, Ziv, and the other 57 hostages still in Gaza are enduring every moment of every day. Each passing hour magnifies their suffering.
I cannot forget those I left behind. I carry their faces, their names, and the knowledge of their pain with me constantly. While I now walk free, they remain in the tunnels where I was held – places of darkness, fear, and desperation that most people cannot begin to comprehend.
When I met President Trump, I wasn’t alone – I was there with five other recently released hostages. Together, we flew to DC, leaving behind our families we had been longing for after so many days of forced separation. Some of us were only a week out of Hamas tunnels, but we understood the importance of going and telling our stories and the stories of those left behind.
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To President Trump, whose kindness during our meeting touched me deeply: Thank you for listening, for understanding, and for your commitment to us and all the other hostages still there. Your administration has already demonstrated its resolve in bringing so many of us home. I implore you to use your considerable influence and power to secure the release of all remaining hostages – both the living, who must return to begin a complex rehabilitation process; and the deceased, whose bodies must be returned to their families for proper burial according to our traditions.
The remaining 59 hostages represent 59 families trapped in an unending nightmare, 59 families with gaping wounds that cannot heal until their loved ones return. These are people who were violently taken from their homes, their workplaces, a music festival, or while defending their country. Among them are fathers whose young children have been waiting anxiously to see them again, young men whose futures have been put on indefinite hold and soldiers who answered the call of duty on October 7th.
As someone who has emerged from that hell, I bear witness to its reality and implore those with the power to act. President Trump has shown that progress is possible. Now we need to finish what began with my release and bring everyone home – Gali, Ziv and all the others.
I survived. I came home. Now I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, for the members of my kibbutz family still held in Gaza, for all the hostages still trapped in those tunnels, enduring starvation and abuse. We cannot rest until every hostage returns home. The day I truly regain my freedom will be the day when all 59 remaining hostages return to us.
Until then, I will continue to share my story, no matter how painful, and carry their voices with me. Please, Mr. President, help us get them out of hell.
