Trump to host recently freed hostages at White House on Nov. 20

All 20 living hostages released last month were invited along with family members; contrary to earlier reporting, the former captives will fly commercial, on Israel’s dime

By Jacob Magid

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and ToI Staff 14 November 2025, 6:45 pm

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The 20 living hostages released on October 13, 2025: First row, from left: Elkana Bohbot, Matan Angrest, Avinatan Or, Yosef-Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel. Second row, from left: Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Rom Braslavski, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman. Third row, from left: Eitan Mor, Segev Kalfon, Nimrod Cohen, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn. Bottom row, from left: Matan Zangauker, Bar Kupershtein, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Omri Miran (Times of Israel combo pic; photos by IDF and GPO)

US President Donald Trump will host the Israeli hostages released in last month’s Gaza ceasefire deal at the White House on November 20, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Friday.

Contrary to earlier reporting, Trump is not chartering a plane to ferry the former hostages to Washington. Instead, they are taking commercial flights on the Israeli government’s dime, the source said.

All 20 hostages released on October 13 have been invited by the White House. It is unknown whether all are going.

The released hostages will bring family members for the visit, according to previous reporting.

The US-brokered ceasefire deal that secured the hostages’ release also obligated the Hamas terror group to turn over the bodies of the 24 remaining hostages, who are all deceased. As of Friday, the remains of three of the hostages are still in the Gaza Strip.

The US president met with other released hostages and their families as well as the loved ones of hostages who remained in captivity a number of times leading up to the October ceasefire deal.

A group of released hostages meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (White House/X)

His administration was central to securing an earlier, January 2025 hostage-ceasefire deal that secured the release of 35 living hostages and the return of eight slain hostages before it collapsed.

In each deal, Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the hostages. In the most recent deal, Israel released 250 prisoners serving life sentences, and some 1,700 detainees arrested in Gaza over the course of the war.

US President Donald Trump hosts families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza at the White House on September 10, 2025. (Hostages Families Forum)

The October deal is meant to serve as the opening stage of a long-term plan for Hamas’s disarmament, Gaza’s demilitarization, and the institution of a new, technocratic government in the Strip that won’t pose a threat to Israel’s security.

Efforts to move forward with the rest of the plan are ongoing, though the document signed in October only dealt with the first stage, and Hamas has since refused to disarm.