Ex-hostage to Trump: ‘Free them all, I trust you’

Freed American-Israeli hostage urges Donald Trump to do ‘everything in his power’ to save the captives still held in Gaza.

By World Israel News Staff

A former Hamas hostage urged President-elect Donald Trump to do “everything in his power” to free the hostages still held in Gaza, as the two met on his Florida golf course.

On October 7, kidnappers abducted Judith Ranaan, an American-Israeli, along with her 17-year-old daughter.

Ranaan and her daughter live in the Chicago area. They were visiting family in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Jewish High Holidays when the terror onslaught began.

On October 20, the pair were the first to be freed by the terror group after being held for nearly two weeks in the Gaza Strip.

Ranaan met briefly with Trump at one of his golf courses in Florida, gifting him with an original painting that she created.

According to a summary of the meeting published by Bring Them Home Now on X, Ranaan’s main message to Trump was that she “trusts him.”

She also asked that Trump “do everything in his power to bring all the hostages home – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial.”

Trump has warned the Hamas terror group that he expects the hostages to be freed by the time he takes office on January 20. If not, he recently threatened on X, there will be “hell to pay.”

Many hostage families have expressed optimism that Trump’s tough stance on Hamas increases the pressure on the terror group to accept a deal.

“I have a strong conviction that we will bring everyone home—both those alive and those who are not,” Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage issues, recently said. “The president’s insistence on achieving this before his inauguration has already catalyzed significant progress in negotiations.”

It’s unclear how many of the approximately 101 hostages in captivity are still alive. At least 34 of the captives are confirmed to be dead.