Ongoing Hostage Crisis

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Wasserman Schultz for her incredible leadership at this very hard time.

Mr. Speaker, on October 7, we witnessed the most horrific, gruesome, terrifying attack on Israel in its history.

Thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and specifically targeted innocent civilians, including women and children. Twelve hundred Israelis were murdered, and women were specifically and systematically brutalized.

Now, 115 days later, 132 hostages are still being held by Hamas. Officials believe 18 have died. The others remain in horrific conditions and have not received required medical checks from the International Red Cross.

I have met with the families of several hostages, and they need our voices and our advocacy to help bring their loved ones home.

Here are two: Naama Levy is 19 years old and is active in a peace movement bringing young Israeli and Palestinian people together seeking peace. Doron Steinbrecher is 30 years old, a veterinary nurse who was kidnapped from her home.

Just imagine if your daughter, sister, or partner were held hostage by Hamas terrorists for 115 days and the torture of not knowing whether they are alive.

Consider for a moment what it must be like to live a nightmare every day, wondering what horrors they might be enduring. Released hostages have reported sexual violence and rape, drugging, beating, branding, and deplorable conditions. Hamas has not allowed the ICRC to assess the condition of the hostages and has not provided proof of life.

We in Congress, we in this country, need to do everything in our power to keep these hostages and their families in our hearts to tell their stories and to bring them home now.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and appreciate her participation tonight in continuing to shine a spotlight on the captivity of the hostages.

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