Israeli Hostage Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Debbie and all my colleagues for being here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf of Aviv Atzili. I was supposed to be here speaking about him being held hostage by Hamas and the need to bring him home safely and without delay.

Instead, I am sadly here to speak about the memory of Aviv. Aviv was a dedicated family man, who just hours ago it was confirmed that he was killed by Hamas.

According to his father-in-law, a New Jerseyan, Aviv bravely fought back against terrorists, but they had not heard anything since that day in October. The news of his death comes hours after his wife, Liat, an American, was released from captivity after 54 days.

While we are grateful for her release, we mourn the loss of Aviv as he leaves behind Liat and her three children.

We are keeping friends, family, and certainly his community in our prayers, but, unfortunately, Aviv's story is one of thousands, many that you will hear tonight about American citizens, many who have been killed or taken hostage by Hamas terrorists.

When I traveled with Debbie in a bipartisan group just 2 days after the attack when we were in Israel, we heard the stories from the families. We listened as two children talked about how their mother and father hid in that shelter until they broke through and took her father away while she hid, and we are still waiting to hear what happened there. It is impossible to try to fathom exactly the pain that they are going through, to watch and to hear what happened as they are hiding.

Many Israelis continue to live that dark day and they are waiting to hear about those who have been taken away. It is time to bring them all home. The images, the videos of the reuniting children and families bring that joy to our heart in such time of pain. It is a reminder that we must bring all the remaining hostages home without delay.

I am proud to join with my colleagues here today to highlight our commitment to bring every single one of them home. We cannot and we will not be silent until all those held by that terrorist organization are reunited with their families.

As a father and grandfather, it breaks my heart to listen to the pain of those families and what they are going through, and I cannot fathom what the Atzili family across Israel had to live through since its brutal attack.

Mr. Speaker, Aviv and Liat's story is a reminder that every single hostage and Israeli loss is a son, daughter, mother, father, brother, or sister. May Aviv's memory be a blessing to his family and to all of us.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey so much for his words, and I can say it was so incredibly moving and meaningful to be able to join him and Mr. Panetta from California and Senator Ernst just days after those horrific attacks.

Mr. GOLDMAN of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for organizing this very important Special Order hour, and I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving us the time to do this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to shine a light on the Metzger family from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which suffered the unimaginable loss of 38 members of the kibbutz, and from where a shocking 75 innocent people were taken captive by Hamas. That is almost one-third of the innocent hostages who were abducted by Hamas on October 7.

Two of those abducted were Tamar Metzger, age 78, and her husband Yoram, age 80. They are grandparents.

Mrs. Metzger was released 2 days ago, after 52 days in captivity.

My family had an opportunity to spend some time with the Metzger's son, Nir, and his two children, Ran and Omer, this week in New York.

According to Nir, the Hamas terrorists, teenagers, dragged his mom out of her bathroom, bashed her face in with a rifle, and severely injured her knees and legs as they violently took a 78-year-old woman to the tunnels of Gaza.

In Gaza, both Metzgers were kept in a tiny, dark, and moist room in an underground tunnel, where there were 12 mattresses on the floor for the 2 of them and 10 other hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

There was essentially nowhere for them to walk or move. They were not allowed to speak. If they did speak, the terrorists would beat them. This happened to a number of them, including 78-year-old Mrs. Metzger at least one time.

Yoram remains held captive in that dank darkness underground, unable to move, unable to speak, under constant fear of being beaten by Hamas terrorists.

We cannot allow another day to go by before these innocent civilians are released back to their homes in Israel. We cannot stop pushing and pressing Hamas to release them and putting pressure on allies and other countries in the Middle East--in Qatar, in Egypt--to put pressure on Hamas to release the illegally abducted civilians who are kept captive in the tunnels of Gaza without any light, without food, and without any ability to move around.

It is time to bring them home. It is time to bring them all home.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Stevens), who is the co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on American Hostages and Americans Wrongfully Detained Abroad.

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