Parents of slain hostage Goldberg-Polin urge Trump to get ‘all 76 hostages out this week’
‘Let’s think bigger and faster,’ not in a phased framework, pleads Jon Polin; US envoy for hostages reacts, saying president has assembled ‘the A team’ to secure everyone’s release
The parents of murdered Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin made a plea Saturday night for US President Donald Trump to speed up the release of the remaining hostages held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip, hours after three Israeli abductees were released after 491 days, looking emaciated.
Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami were paraded onstage by Hamas terrorists and forced to make comments that in the case of Sharabi revealed that he hadn’t known his wife and two daughters were killed during the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
In a video statement, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin said they felt a particular connection to Levy, who was kidnapped from the same bomb shelter as their son during the October 7 assault, as they ran from terrorists who raided the Nova rave near Kibbutz Re’im.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin said that after Levy was released, one of the first things he asked his brother was if Hersh was okay, “because he had assumed that Hersh had been released long ago, and his brother had to explain to him that Hersh had been murdered five months ago.”
Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were executed by their Hamas captors in August. Their bodies were recovered and brought back to Israel by the IDF.
“Seeing the condition of these three hostages, hearing that Or had no idea what happened to Hersh, that Eli was unaware of the fate of his wife and his daughters, is just a gut punch to all of us that we need to do more,” Polin said.
Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin have issued a new call to action, urging President Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the release of all hostages held in Gaza "this week.”
"Our plea to you right now is, now that you've done the hard part of getting… pic.twitter.com/j4uwlVzXiS
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 8, 2025
He directly addressed Trump and the latter’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, urging them: “Let’s not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months. Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week. End of war.”
“Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now,” he added.
Trump’s envoy for the hostages Adam Boehler reacted to the suggestion, tweeting that the president “has been clear” about his demand that all hostages be freed, “and built the A team to deliver” — tagging Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Even before the Goldberg-Polins’ video plea, Rubio welcomed the release of the three men and reiterated that Trump “was clear — Hamas MUST release ALL hostages NOW!”
After 490 harrowing days in captivity, Eli, Or, and Ohad are finally home in Israel. @POTUS was clear – Hamas MUST release ALL hostages NOW!
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 8, 2025
Seventy-three of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.
Hamas has so far released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January.
The truce’s first phase is set to see the release of nine more captives and the bodies of eight more abductees over the next three weeks. By then, Israel and Hamas are meant to have negotiated the terms of the second phase, in which all the remaining living hostages are set to be released in exchange for numerous Palestinian security prisoners, an end to the war and a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza. A third phase is then expected to see the release of all bodies of hostages and the reconstruction of the Strip.
The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
