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Families of American hostages held in Gaza to attend Trump’s inauguration

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also expected to attend the inauguration, though Wednesday’s announcement did not mention any plans for the relatives of the hostages to meet with him.

By Ben Sales, JTA

Relatives of the seven American hostages held in Gaza will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, representatives of the families announced.

The announcement Wednesday comes as Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden are both working to close a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would free some of the nearly 100 hostages, dead and alive, who have been held there since Hamas abducted them in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Deputies for both Trump and Biden are saying that a deal is close, though the sides have appeared optimistic in the past only for talks to falter.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Trump threatened that “if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.”

Representatives for the families of the American hostages also said that the relatives will meet with Trump administration officials when they are in Washington, D.C. for three days surrounding the inauguration.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also expected to attend the inauguration, though Wednesday’s announcement did not mention any plans for the relatives of the hostages to meet with him.

Israeli officials have confirmed that four of the seven U.S. citizens held in Gaza have been killed and that Hamas is holding their bodies in Gaza. They are Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, and husband and wife Gad Haggai and Judith Weinstein.

Americans Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Edan Alexander are also being held captive.

The relatives in attendance will be either parents, children, siblings or the spouse of a hostage. Two sets of parents who spoke at last summer’s political conventions — those of Neutra and of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in captivity — will be among the attendees.

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