Eitan Gonen is the father of Romi Gonen, who was released from Hamas captivity on Jan. 19 after 471 days.
The morning of Oct. 7, 2023, is tattooed in our memory.
For nearly five hours, I — along with Romi’s mother, Meirav, and our daughter, Yarden — spoke to Romi on the phone as chaos unfolded at the Nova music festival.
With the roads blocked by abandoned and burned cars, the last we heard was that Romi was shot and that terrorists were near her.
Then came the agonizing silence.
Her friends who were with her had been murdered. For almost two months, we had no idea if she was even alive, until other hostages released in the first deal confirmed she had survived.
For 470 days, I ended every interview I gave with the same message: “Romi is coming home alive.”
I didn’t know if she would hear me, but I kept saying it, hoping somehow my words would reach her.
This mantra gave me no choice but to get up every day and fight. I had to be ready for her return every waking moment. Staying in bed and giving up was not an option.
The person who made seeing my daughter possible, after so many months of despair and failed negotiations, was President Donald Trump.
When he set a Jan. 20 deadline for the deal, it applied the necessary pressure, setting in motion the events that would bring Romi home.
I would be honored to shake his hand one day and express my gratitude for his role in reuniting our family.
For the 79 hostages still in captivity as of Friday, including dozens who aren’t even part of the current phase of negotiations, President Trump is their only hope.
Only he could help other families experience the reunion I had. Only he can make the next stages of the deal possible.
After his intervention, the moment we had been fighting for arrived: When I got to speak with Romi in the hospital after her release on Jan. 19, her first words to me were: “Dad, I came home alive!”
Those words, which made everything worthwhile, confirmed what I had always believed — that our voices could reach across the void and give strength to those we love.
https://nypost.com/2025/02/07/opinion/trump-is-the-reason-my-daughter-romi-is-no-longer-a-hamas-hostage/