US envoy Huckabee visits children returning to school in Gaza border towns: ‘Evil didn’t win’

United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visits children on their first day of school in the Eshkol Regional Council of southern Israel – the district hit hardest by the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023.

“I’m reminded today that evil didn’t win!” writes Huckabee on X, celebrating that “Hamas is near annihilation and these children are starting school” only “a few hundred yards from Gaza.”

My day started at 1st day of school in Eshkol district just a few hundred yards from Gaza. Many of the children had parents or friends murdered or taken hostage. I’m reminded today that evil didn’t win! Hamas is near annihilation and these children are starting school. https://t.co/5oEIjuJsGI

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 1, 2025

He adds that many of the schoolchildren “had parents or friends murdered or taken hostage” by the terror group.

Huckabee is quoted in Hebrew media reports as telling the children: “Very bad people tried to prevent you from starting this day, but one of the things I appreciate most about Israelis: No matter how many times they try to stop you: you get right back up and keep going.”

According to Ynet, the principal of the Shachar Eshkol school, Eyal Dvori, told Huckabee during his visit that the school’s art teacher, Yaffa Rudaeff, “is still waiting” for her partner Lior, whose body is being held by Hamas in Gaza, asking the envoy to “do everything in your power to bring back the hostages and end the war.”