Watch the full speech HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered a floor speech celebrating the release of the remaining, living hostages; calling on Hamas to quickly return the remains of the deceased hostages; and urging the Trump administration and her Senate colleagues to work towards further implementing the peace agreement. Senator Rosen has been a steadfast advocate for the safety and security of Israeli and American hostages, who has stood strong with Israel in the wake of Hamas’ brutal acts of terror. Earlier this year, she led a bipartisan resolution in the Senate to demand the safe release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, which advanced out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June. In October 2023, following a visit to Israel where she met with families of those taken captive, she introduced a bipartisan resolution, which later passed the Senate, condemning Hamas’s attacks and demanding the release of hostages.
Below is a transcript of Senator Rosen’s remarks:
On October Seventh, Two Thousand and Twenty-Three, Hamas terrorists shocked the human conscience when they carried out a brutal attack on Israel that murdered innocent men, women, and children, babies.
An attack during which terrorists raped innocent women.
An assault during which Hamas took hundreds hostage, including Americans and Holocaust survivors.
For people everywhere, and especially Jewish people, this brutal terrorist attack shook us to our core.
It shattered our hearts and it led to our collective grief.
A grief that has lasted for years as we’ve awaited the day when these innocent hostages could be reunited with their families.
Since the aftermath of October Seventh, I’ve had these posters in the lobby of my office to remind every single person who walked through the doors that innocent people were still being brutally held by Hamas terrorists. These signs have been a reminder of who started this war and how it kept going for so long.
For more than two years, 739 agonizing days, families in Israel, in the United States, and around the world have lived every waking moment in anguish, waiting, praying, and advocating for the safe return of their loved ones taken hostage by the terrorist organization that is Hamas.
Those folks never stopped. They never tired. They traveled across continents and oceans to make sure the world never forgot their commitment to freeing their loved ones, and that their voices would be heard. And that their loved ones would be brought home.
And so, their mission was to not stop speaking out until they were reunited with their loved ones.
I’ve had the honor of meeting these families many times over the last couple of years, both in Israel and here in the U.S.
I’ve had the honor of meeting mothers and fathers who showed me photos of their missing children, of meeting brothers and sisters who refused to give up hope.
And even meeting survivors who escaped captivity and still found the courage to tell their stories, when it wasn’t pretty or easy. And they will spend the rest of their lives healing.
I have also met with families of innocent people who were taken hostage and murdered, and whose bodies Hamas refused to return to their loved ones.
I have sat with them, listened to their gut-wrenching stories, cried with them, and promised them that America, and Congress, would never turn away.
As a mother, a wife, frankly as a human being, I can understand their fight, their desire to be reunited with their loved ones and how deep their pain is.
It’s why I’ve worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and across two different Administrations to continue shining a light on the need to return the hostages to their families, to their communities.
And this week, this week, that day finally came.
After many long, painful months of negotiations, a ceasefire deal has been reached, one that has resulted in the return of all the living hostages.
This is a testament to the resilience and the relentless work of families, allies, and advocates who never stopped speaking out and standing up.
I’m deeply grateful to the Trump Administration for reaching a deal to make this day possible for these families.
This is a testament to what can happen when we put politics aside and care for each other as human beings, when we have empathy for each other.
And while we’ve been overjoyed to see the images of hostages being reunited with their loved ones, let us not forget those who haven’t been so lucky.
Because Hamas continues to hold the bodies of dead hostages, including Americans Itay Chen and Omer Neutra.
We cannot forget their families. I have felt their pain, and we can not forget them, we cannot forget these families, families who won’t ever get to see their loved ones, families who never got to say goodbye, to say that one last “I love you.” Before their loved one went off to a music festival to enjoy an evening concert.
So we must remain clear-eyed, that our work is not over.
The agreement is still in its early stages, and now is not the time to sit idly by.
I hope the Trump Administration and my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle continue to provide support and enforce guardrails to see this through.
We must remain committed to ensuring the quick return of the deceased hostages.
To give their families the closure they deserve.
We must make sure that Israel’s security remains ironclad, that Hamas terrorists Hamas are terrorists let’s be clear, can never again threaten innocent lives, and that no terrorist organization can use civilians as shields or bargaining chips. We should demand this much, no terrorist organization should ever use civilians as shields or bargaining chips.
At the same time, we must also act to ease the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
They need access to humanitarian aid, to food and to medicine, and the chance to rebuild their communities free from Hamas’s terrorist control and oppression.
But most of all, we must not let this fragile moment pass without redoubling our commitment to peace, a lasting peace that ensures safety, dignity, and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians.
So this week, as we mark this moment of long-awaited relief, let us remember, our work is not done.
For peace is not achieved in a single day, it is built with the strength and courage of those who refuse to give up on it, for the hostages who survived and those who tragically did not, for the families who waited and advocated for the return of their loved ones, and for the people who continue to pray for a peaceful future.
So may this step be the first sign of change as we move toward an end to violence, toward a future where Israeli and Palestinian children alike can grow up knowing not war, but embracing hope, a hope for a peaceful tomorrow, that is my hope as well.
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