Former Israeli hostage Judith Raanan asks Trump: ‘Please do everything possible to bring them home!’

Judith Raanan, who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 and freed later that month, met with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Monday and asked him to do what he could to return the 100 remaining hostages.

“Please do everything possible to bring the 100 hostages home,” Raanan told Trump. She presented him with a drawing she had created and shared her experience of the kidnapping and captivity in Gaza, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum reported.

“Judith's main message to Trump was that she trusts him and asks that he do everything in his power to bring all the hostages home – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” the forum stated.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Judith and her daughter Natalie, both U.S.-Israeli citizens living in Evanston, Illinois, were visiting Israel to celebrate Judith's mother's 85th birthday. They were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from their family's home on Kibbutz Nahal Oz and later released on Oct 20.

Two of the hostages, mother and daughter Yehudit Tai and Natali Shoshana Raanan were released by the Hamas terror organization and were transferred to the Israeli border via the Red Cross.

They are on their way to an army base in central Israel were their families are anxiously… pic.twitter.com/S4WZKUlE2h

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 20, 2023

On Oct. 7, 2023, Judith and Natalie were living in Evanston, Illinois and visiting Israel to celebrate the 85th birthday of Judith's mother.

In a first interview since her release, Judith Raanan described how the nurses cheered when the Hamas terrorists brought them into a hospital in Gaza.

During their meeting, Trump reportedly told Raanan, “We’re working very hard to get the hostages back and as you know Jan. 20 is a very big day,” she said referring to Trump's inauguration next month and the ultimatum he issued to Hamas.

Hamas captivity survivor Judith Raanan met with President-elect Trump and made an emotional plea: "Please do everything possible to bring the 100 hostages home"

Judith Raanan, the first hostage released from Hamas captivity, met yesterday with President-elect Trump in Florida.… pic.twitter.com/pSNvgBd5AJ

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) December 10, 2024

Last week, Trump warned that there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza are not released by the time he enters the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025.

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” he added.

In an apparent reference to Trump’s warning and a renewed push toward a hostage deal, on Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated, “There is now a significant renewed effort underway. I sincerely thank outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. Their actions have brought about meaningful change.”

Herzog spoke at an emergency discussion on the medical condition of the hostages on International Human Rights Day, which focused “on the dire situation and deep concern for the wellbeing of the hostages being held captive for 431 days by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

The meeting was attended by hostages who had been freed from captivity, and the families of hostages still being held in Gaza.

“We are marking 431 days of the most unimaginable violations of human rights. Today, on International Human Rights Day, not a single right has been upheld by the criminal and terrorist organization Hamas. The entire world must cry out with all its might against this heinous organization and its flagrant violations of human rights,” Herzog said.

“I call on all parties: Bring them home. That is the overriding imperative emanating from here because, as all the data presented makes clear, the hostages are in grave mortal danger.”