Romi Gonen was released on Jan 19th after 471 days in captivity.

President Trump, because of you, I can hug my sister again. After 471 agonizing days, Romi is finally home, and I owe you my deepest gratitude for making this possible. Your unwavering commitment and decisive action helped secure this deal, giving me what I had dreamed of for 15 months – seeing my sister smile again.

Romi is the light of our family. She puts her family first and there’s nothing she won’t do for the ones she loves. That’s who she was before October 7th, and that’s who she remained even through the darkest moments of captivity.

I will never be able to forget the horrors of that day. Romi was just 23 when Hamas terrorists kidnapped her from the NOVA festival. In her terrifying final moments of freedom, she was on the phone with our mother as she tried to flee the site in a vehicle with her friends. Her last words still haunt us – she said the driver was dead, and that her best friend Gaya had been shot and wasn’t responding. She told us she was shot in her hand and would bleed to death if help didn’t arrive quickly.

For 471 days, we lived in agony, not knowing what she was experiencing or what was happening to her there. For those 471 days, I lived in a nightmare that no sister should endure. Every passing hour was filled with thoughts of Romi in captivity, wondering if she was cold, hungry, or afraid. We didn’t know the extent of her injuries or if she had received any medical care.

President Trump, we are a family of faith – throughout this horrific ordeal, we knew she would return to us alive, and you made that happen. Your strong and decisive statements gave us hope when we needed it most. When others might have given up, you didn’t. When the negotiations seemed impossible, you pushed harder. Your unwavering demand that all hostages must return home proved crucial in securing the deal that brought my Romi and others back to their families.