Israeli Hostage Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, on October 7, the State of Israel was treacherously attacked by the terrorist group Hamas. They murdered 1,200 peaceful people, many of them at a musical festival, some from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border. They kidnapped 250 people illegally, of course, and took them into Gaza.

We know that some of them have been released in a deal that was made, one of them was an American Israeli named Abigail, just 4 years old. She was kept together with three other hostages and was given one piece of pita, Middle East bread, for the four of them per day. When they came home, they had to be deloused. Their hair and their clothes were full of lice, and they said that if they had to go to the bathroom, they had to wait 2 hours.

Mr. Speaker, Hamas has said over and over again, they will attack over and over again, again and again until Israel is no more. When people demand a cease-fire, we should think what we would have thought about people demanding a cease-fire 7 or 8 weeks after Pearl Harbor. A cease-fire would simply permit Hamas to regroup and to attack Israel again and again and again, which they have told us they would do.

By the way, there had been cease-fires. There have been four cease- fires, every one of which Hamas broke, including breaking a cease-fire on October 7.

One of the hostages who was taken was a fellow named Danny Elgarat, brother of Yitzchak Elgarat. I want to read what Danny said about that.

He said, ``My name is Danny, Danny Elgarat. Around 10:30 a.m., my brother calls me, my brother, Yitzchak Elgarat. He lives in Kibbutz Nir Oz. He tells me that his hand is crushed, flooded with blood. He was hysterical and stressed, and I didn't quite understand what was going on with him, and I tried to guide him how to apply a tourniquet to stop the blood.

``Suddenly, while I am still trying to guide him, I hear screams in the background and shouts. Then Itzik, my brother Itzik, shouts `Danny, it's the end. It's the end,' and our call is cut off.

``Afterwards we checked the matter of Itzik's phone, the location of the phone. We found out that his phone is located in Gaza, the center of the city of Gaza.

``When he would come back to us, we would sit in the porch with a good glass of Whiskey and we would say it was just a bad dream.''

Mr. Speaker, I pray for Yitzhak and all the remaining hostages who were so barbarically taken from their families. Bring them home and defeat Hamas so they can't do this again and again and again.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Frankel).

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on October 7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Hamas terrorists took over 200 hostages from Israel--men, women, children, the elderly, and the young, including dozens of IDF soldiers who Hamas has refused to release. I want to tell you about one of them.

That beautiful young lady is Naama Levy. She is the second of four children. She is an athlete, loves soccer, the triathlon. During her summer in high school, she was a participant in the Hands of Peace project in the United States working toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

After she graduated high school, like other Israeli youth, she completed her coursework to be an observation soldier, and she began her military service on October 5 at the Nahal Oz base. It was 2 days later, on October 7 at 6:32 a.m., she woke to red alerts and went into a safe room with her friends. She then texted her mom. There is the text:

Mom, we are in the safe room. I have never heard anything like this.

Her mother says:

What is happening, my darling?

What her mother then saw on a video loop over and over was her daughter being dragged off by her hair by Hamas into the back of a truck.

Her mom lives the same nightmare as the other families of the hostages. She thinks about her every day. Where is her daughter now? What kind of life is she living? Where does she sleep? Does she have water? Does she have air? Is she being treated well?

Mr. Speaker, look at this young lady, just starting her life with hopes and dreams. Let's bring her back.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ.

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