During a press briefing on Monday, President Trump was asked if he expects to see any progress made towards a ceasefire in Gaza during his trip to the Middle East.
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00:00Mr. President, on the hostage, you said that the release of the American hostage,
00:06Edwin Alexander, is a step in good faith to end this war.
00:10Do you expect any progress, perhaps announcement, on ceasefire during your trip to the Middle East?
00:16We hope that we're going to have other hostages released, too, as you know.
00:20So when I met with the hostages three weeks ago that were there for quite a while,
00:24you remember the 10 people that came in, mostly young people, one or two were a little bit older,
00:30they were explaining the trials and tribulations.
00:33I mean, they went through hell.
00:35And I said, how many are there?
00:36They said 59.
00:38I said, that's a lot.
00:39I didn't realize, because we got a lot out.
00:41You know, we got a lot of hostages out, I think you will acknowledge.
00:44They said 59, but then they said, they followed that up by saying 59, of which 24 are living, the rest are dead.
00:51But the people whose son, mostly son, I think one daughter in this case, but mostly sons are there, or husbands are there.
01:02Those people want the dead bodies as much as they want the live body.
01:06I have a mother that calls me, but came up to me when I first met her, and she said, sir, please, please get my son out.
01:15He's dead, but they have his body.
01:18And I asked her about that, and it's as though he were alive.
01:22The level of wanting that body back is the same.
01:27It couldn't be anymore, as though he were alive.
01:30So, you know, getting the bodies back is very important.
01:33It could be a thing having to do with the religion.
01:36It could be the same.
01:37I was amazed at the level of importance.
01:41It's the same as if the son or husband or whatever was alive.
01:45So they said 59.
01:47In fact, they came in with a number, 59, written out like a sign on their chest.
01:52They came to thank me for getting them out.
01:55And I said, what does a 59 mean?
01:59They said, well, that means there are 59 people.
02:01But then they said, but 24 are living.
02:04Now it's 21.
02:05The number is 21.
02:06So now it's actually, we'll get Etan today.
02:10We think we're getting him today.
02:12So they have 20 live hostages there.
02:14The rest are dead bodies.
02:17The rest are dead bodies.