Families of hostages held in Gaza urge Congress to keep pressure on Hamas and intermediaries

Family members of people seized by Hamas and a survivor of the October 7 attacks testified at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, urging U.S. lawmakers to sustain pressure on Hamas and intermediary states until all hostages are returned.

Chairman Mast opened the meeting by congratulating the administration on recent releases and stressing the priority: “We will not rest until they're all safely brought home and Hamas is eradicated,” he said. Ranking Member Gregory Meeks and other members of the committee echoed calls for a bipartisan, humanitarian focus on securing the remaining hostages.

Orna and Ronan Neutra, who testified that their son Omer was killed on Oct. 7, described months of advocacy for the hostages and urged continued U.S. support for negotiations. “We trust that President Trump and his team will make sure that the release continues,” Ronan Neutra said, describing public memorials and global advocacy the family has undertaken.

Former captive Ilana Grisevski recounted the physical and sexual abuse she said she suffered after being taken from her home near the Gaza border. She described being moved between houses and tunnels, deprived of food and medical care, and paraded in public under guard. “I begged the terrorists to let me see him,” she said, describing being separated from her boyfriend, who remains captive.

Moshe Levy and other family members described loved ones taken from homes, kibbutzim and the Nova Festival, and urged lawmakers to press international interlocutors to carry out negotiated phases of hostage releases. “The most important thing is to emphasize… that the first mission we have in this war, and the most urgent one, is the release of the hostages,” Moshe Levy told the committee.

Speakers repeatedly cited recent returns of hostages as proof that focused diplomatic pressure can work: witnesses and members said 21 hostages had recently been released, while roughly 76 hostages remained in Gaza, including six U.S. citizens, and families said many others had been murdered on Oct. 7. Family members urged rapid completion of the deal’s second phase and called for sanctions on charities or entities that funnel money to Hamas and for pressure on states the witnesses said enable Hamas to operate.

Members of Congress from both parties expressed sympathy and pledged continued engagement. Representative Keating urged a mindset of how to make the fragile agreement hold, rather than how it might fail. Representative Lawler and others called for broader accountability for sponsors and supporters of Hamas, including Iran and organizations that witnesses said have aided Hamas. Several witnesses asked lawmakers to press Qatar, Jordan and other intermediaries to produce concrete plans and to withhold funds or privileges if they do not cooperate.

Witnesses and members emphasized short- and long-term aims: secure immediate release and rehabilitation of living hostages, return of remains for burial, and in the longer term, dismantling Hamas’s governing capacity in Gaza. Several family members described the emotional toll of long uncertainty—one family said they have advocated for 495 days since Oct. 7—and asked the committee to keep the issue in public view.

The hearing closed with lawmakers reiterating commitments to continue diplomatic, economic and public-pressure measures until all hostages are reunited with their families. “Please do whatever it takes. Bring them home now,” one family member told the committee in closing.