Family members of Israelis held hostage in Gaza appeared onstage with President Donald Trump during a post-inauguration rally in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
They were joined by Noa Argamani, a former hostage who was freed by the Israeli army in June.
The Israelis, many holding hostage posters and all wearing yellow scarves, were called on stage by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy who played a crucial role in finalizing the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal. Witkoff said Trump would be meeting with the families later in the evening.
They remained there as Trump said he was pardoning the “J6 hostages,” a shorthand used by Trump and some of his supporters to refer to Americans jailed over their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in support of Trump.
He then addressed Witkoff, calling him “a great negotiator,” and welcomed home the former hostages, lamenting the condition of those returned to Israel on Sunday and saying, “We never stopped praying for you, and we’re so glad that you reunited with your friends and families.”
Turning to Witkoff for confirmation, Trump also noted that some of the families were pleading to have their children’s bodies returned. Trump also claimed, as he has before, that the Oct. 7 attack would not have taken place had he been president at the time.
He added, “Three years, ridiculous. Should have never happened.” Hamas’ attack occurred about 16 months ago, in October 2023.
“None of you would be up here, none of you would known anything about this tragedy that you’re going through right now,” he told the Israelis assembled, whose hands he also shook.
Trump had alluded to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in his inaugural address, in which he cast himself as a “peacemaker” and hailed “the return of the hostages in the Middle East.”
A group representing the hostage families originally said that representatives of all seven Americans remaining hostage — of whom three are thought to be alive — would attend the inauguration. Instead, with a ceasefire deal in place and hostages being released at intervals, some of them chose to stay in Israel.
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