While the world is breathing more easily to follow it -fires with Iran, families such as mine still hold our breath -because my brother, and 49 other hostages are still underground in Gaza, wait to get home.
For almost two weeks, while Iran escalated his attacks, our families lived through a double nightmare. When Iran’s missiles first started to fall, my wife was abroad. I was alone at home with our three young children, racing to the bomb area and tried to keep it together while sirens cried above us. My wife fought to return to Israel – to a country under fire – because she could not tolerate the thought that we only encountered this.
That is the kind of fear we live with.
Israeli hostages families make a desperate plea for Trump while ‘time walks’
Moshe or, left, with his brother Avinatan, who is held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. (The or family)
I kept my children in the neighborhood and did everything I could to comfort them. And yet my thoughts remained back to my younger brother Avinatan because of all this. If we were terrified with walls around us, close to our loved ones, what does Avinatan feel there, underground, in the darkness, surrounded by terrorists?
That thought never leaves me.
This has been the reality for so many Israeli families – shelter against bombs above, while knowing that our loved ones are still caught below. While the world shifts its attention to the next crisis, the hostages run the risk of being forgotten. But their suffering is not over. Their time is still frozen. And we are still fighting to bring them home.
President Trump, you have shown the world what decisive leadership looks like. Your answer to Iran has sent a clear message: America stands with its allies, stands for the safety of the whole world. Now, with a ceases -the fire, we should not waste this window. You have previously helped with the free hostages. You said you want a deal that brings them all at home. Now you can reach the biggest deal of all.
President Donald Trump met seven hostages liberated from Hamas Captivity on March 7, 2025. (Photo supplied by ghygages families forum)
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Six hundred twenty -eight days. That is how long my brother, Avinatan, has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Live – but suffer. Denied sunlight, clean water, medicines and basic freedom. It is used as a negotiating ship in a cruel game.
October 7, 2023 was Simchat Torah – a holiday that should celebrate joy and tradition. I had no idea that my brother was even at the Nova Music Festival, one of Hamas’s first goals. The first sign that something was wrong came through social media. Friends started looking for him online. Then the video appeared – Avinatan, fascinated, who was dragged violently to Gaza, forced separated from his girlfriend Noa Argamani. It still doesn’t really feel. But since then I have been forced to live every day. Noa was saved in June. Avinatan is still there.
The first 500 days we had no idea of ​​his fate. Only the pathogenic knowledge that he probably suffered. Then, in March, we finally received a sign of life. It was a breath after months of suffocation. But confirming that he lives is not the goal. The goal is to bring him home like that.
Moshe or, left, is an appeal to President Trump to free his brother Avinatan and the 49 other hostages from Hamas terrorists in Gaza. (The or family)
Hostages who have returned describe horrible circumstances: underground tunnels in total darkness, the hunger so serious that their muscles were demolished and the silence was so long that some forgot how to speak. They are confronted every day with systematic cruelty and torture.
Avinatan is 32, my younger brother – attentive and full heart. He is an electrical engineer at Nvidia, a devoted uncle and one of the seven brothers and sisters in our large, close family. He never misses a birthday and will drive through the country to appear. A passionate cook, he prepares extensive meals to see others smile. Smart, funny, always surrounded by friends – Avinatan is the soul of our family. Our bond never needed daily phone calls or long conversations. We are the kind of brothers who just know. We grew up side by side, and even while we built our own lives, we could still sit at our mother’s house on a Friday afternoon and talk and laugh as if no time had passed.
The last time I saw that Avinatan was on the third birthday of my youngest daughter. She will soon be 5. One of her older brothers recently told us that his greatest fear has forgotten what Avinatan looks like – forgot the sound of his voice. This is the youth they inherited. And now, on top of everything, they had to wake up with the frightening sound of Sirens – running to hiding places, asking questions that should not ask a child.
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We miss him at any time – during parties, in sadness and especially in daily life. At Friday dinners when his chair stays empty, during family milestones that pass without him. The most difficult part is realizing how much time has passed, and yet, he is there – buried in Hamas’s tunnels, waiting for us to take him home.
President Trump, you have the power to change this story – and complete your mission. The twelve-day operation in Iran has ended. The United States stood with Israel. Now it’s time to make that success something bigger: an extensive deal that brings all hostages home and ends this war.
Israeli hostages have the photos of their loved ones who are held hostage by Hamas in Gaza while marching to Jerusalem. (Matan Golan/Sopa Images/Lighttrocket via Getty Images)
It ceases -firing with Iran, has to mark the start of a wider resolution. There are still 50 hostages in Gaza – some alive confirmed, others who are known to have been killed. Each of them is important. Each of them has to come home.
We thank you, Mr. President, and the people of the United States, for standing with us. We now ask you to bring this fight to its just conclusion.
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Avinatan is still alive. Still waiting. And we won’t stop – only when he and every other hostage are at home.
Moshe or is the brother of hostage agent Avinatan or, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
