ICAN Welcomes the Release of Israeli Hostages, Commends President Trump for Restoring American Leadership, and Calls on State and Local Officials to Stand with Israel in the Wake of Hamas’s Defeat
The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) welcomes the historic release of all remaining living Israeli hostages from Gaza, a landmark humanitarian and strategic achievement that reflects the renewed strength of American leadership under President Donald J. Trump. The operation concludes 738 days of captivity for those abducted during the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 — an assault that murdered 1,194 Israelis and foreign nationals and stands as the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The release occurred under the first phase of the Trump Administration’s Gaza Peace Framework, a 20-point plan developed through direct negotiations involving the United States, Israel, Egypt, and regional partners aligned with the principles of the Abraham Accords. The agreement secured the verified transfer of twenty surviving Israeli hostages, including five dual citizens, in exchange for 1,982 Palestinian prisoners. Among those released were 213 prisoners convicted of lethal or attempted-lethal terrorist offenses, including bombings, stabbings, and kidnappings of Israeli civilians, as confirmed by the Israeli Prison Service on October 12, 2025. The exchange was completed under international monitoring with logistical coordination led by the United States Central Command.
Peace through Strength and Deterrence-Based Diplomacy
This operation marks the first comprehensive hostage release since the war began and demonstrates the effectiveness of deterrence-based diplomacy. President Trump’s insistence on direct accountability for all parties and his refusal to legitimize Hamas as a governing entity have re-established U.S. credibility in the region and restored a moral clarity absent in prior administrations. Supporting roles were carried out by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, senior envoy Steve Witkoff, and advisor Jared Kushner, whose coordination with regional governments and humanitarian agencies helped bring the operation to completion.
While this achievement brings long-awaited relief to the families of those returned, Hamas continues to violate the agreement by withholding the remains of twenty-four murdered hostages. According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, 251 individuals were abducted on October 7; 121 were confirmed dead, 110 were released prior to this operation, and 20 were freed in the current stage. The mortality rate of more than 45 percent among hostages illustrates Hamas’s systematic violations of international humanitarian law and its deliberate use of civilians as tools of terror.
The first stage of the peace framework also establishes mechanisms for humanitarian access and reconstruction in Gaza. Reconstruction will now proceed under international supervision, with all funds and materials restricted to non-terrorist civilian agencies to prevent diversion for military purposes — a pattern repeatedly documented during Hamas’s years of control from 2007 to 2023.
This progress reflects the strategic continuity between the Gaza Peace Framework and the principles of the Abraham Accords, which include four formal signatories — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan — and several additional Muslim-majority partners engaged in normalization and cooperation with Israel. These relationships have transformed regional dynamics by creating the first sustained Arab-Israeli alignment against Iran and its proxies. By extending this model to post-conflict Gaza, the United States and its allies are demonstrating that normalization and deterrence, not appeasement or moral equivalence, are the only viable foundations for peace.
Even amid these diplomatic advances, Hamas has continued to demonstrate its violent nature. Multiple international media outlets have documented that Hamas militants carried out lethal assaults against the Doghmush clan and other Palestinian families in Gaza City, killing more than fifty civilians in an effort to reassert control through fear. These attacks, which included the use of ambulances and civilian vehicles for armed incursions, reveal the organization’s ongoing brutality not only toward Israelis but also toward Palestinians living under its rule. Hamas’s willingness to murder its own people underscores its total unfitness to govern and its continued function as an Iranian proxy committed to perpetual war.
ICAN strongly condemns these crimes and reiterates that reconstruction and civil administration in Gaza must proceed only under non-terrorist civilian authority, supported by international oversight and enforceable security guarantees. Any process that permits Hamas to retain political or military control over Gaza would endanger regional stability and invite renewed bloodshed.
Under Point 13 of the Trump Administration’s Gaza Peace Framework, the process of Hamas disarmament is the linchpin of the plan’s success. The agreement explicitly requires Hamas to play no role in Gaza’s future governance, to destroy its weapons, tunnels, and facilities, and to undergo full demilitarization under independent international monitoring. Hamas combatants are to be integrated through a buyback and reintegration program, effectively ending its armed capability. Should Hamas comply, Israel would progressively reduce its military presence and facilitate the establishment of a demilitarized zone under international supervision. If Hamas rejects or delays disarmament, however, Point 17 of the framework is triggered — allowing the plan to continue without Hamas’s participation. Under this provision, Israeli and allied forces secure “terror-free zones,” scaled-up humanitarian aid enters only those compliant areas, reconstruction proceeds under new administrative authorities, and Hamas loses de facto control and access to any reconstruction benefits. This ensures that a political process moves forward independently of Hamas, which is permanently excluded from governance.
Developments in Egypt at Sharm el-Sheikh Summit
Today Egypt hosted the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, co-chaired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and U.S. President Donald J. Trump, bringing together over 20 nations to endorse a joint declaration supporting the first phase of the Gaza peace framework. President el-Sisi described Trump’s peace proposal as a “last chance” for regional stability, emphasizing the urgency of ceasing hostilities and accelerating reconstruction.
In the summit document, signatories affirmed support for a transition period in Gaza that excludes Hamas from governance roles and called for oversight by a newly proposed Palestinian technocratic committee under supervision of an international “Board of Peace.” AP News Estimates circulated during the summit place the cost of reconstruction at $53 billion.
The Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit convened more than 20 national delegations, reflecting the broad international support behind the first phase of the Gaza Peace Framework. Participating countries included the United States, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, joined by regional partners Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait. European representation included Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain, alongside Greece and Cyprus, which emphasized their security role in the eastern Mediterranean. From Africa and Asia, Kenya, India, and Japan attended as observers, while Canada and Australia joined as allied supporters. The United Nations, the European Union, and the African Union participated in an institutional capacity, endorsing the summit’s communiqué that calls for Hamas’s disarmament, humanitarian reconstruction under civilian authority, and a U.S.-led verification mechanism to guarantee implementation.
Qatar’s Manufactured Leverage
The outcome of the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit has made clear that Qatar’s influence over Hamas was not a diplomatic success—it was the product of years of permissive policy that allowed a state sponsor of extremism to entrench itself as an indispensable actor. For more than a decade, Qatar cultivated both sides of the conflict: hosting Hamas’s senior leadership, financing its operations under the guise of humanitarian aid, and simultaneously positioning itself as a necessary conduit for negotiations. This dual role—terror financier and mediator—was tolerated by successive governments in Washington and Jerusalem as a matter of expediency. The result was a system in which Doha’s leverage grew in proportion to Hamas’s impunity.
Recent reporting from The Telegraph, The Times of Israel, and the Israel Policy Forum has confirmed what Israeli and American officials have long known: Hamas’s eventual surrender was triggered not by goodwill, but by a calculated shift in Qatari posture once U.S. and Egyptian pressure threatened its diplomatic status. Far from demonstrating neutrality, Qatar’s intervention illustrates how regimes that bankroll extremism often profit most when peace is negotiated on their terms.
Qatari officials themselves acknowledged that “the release of hostages would mean the end of the war,” a statement that underscores Doha’s awareness of its own leverage—and of its responsibility for prolonging the suffering by withholding it. The fact that decisive progress occurred only after Qatar was compelled to act proves that its so-called mediation was, in practice, a form of political extortion.
This same pattern of influence has begun to appear inside the United States. Qatar’s ability to launder its reputation through universities, think tanks, and public-relations fronts mirrors the way anti-Israel and anti-American narratives are spreading through state and local government.
Combating Radical Extremism in State and Local Governments
ICAN also expresses profound disappointment in the failure of many state and local officials across the United States who previously called for “ceasefires” and “restraint” but are now either silent or openly condemning Hamas’s surrender and Israel’s victory. Their selective moral outrage reveals a dangerous double standard that undermines democratic values and the credibility of public office. At this critical moment, ICAN urges those officials — particularly mayors, legislators, and educators who once demanded a ceasefire — to make public statements welcoming the release of hostages, acknowledging Hamas’s defeat, and recognizing Israel’s lawful and moral right to defend itself and secure peace.
ICAN notes with alarm recent public comments by New York Assemblymember Zohran Kwame Mamdani, who described the outcome as “a glimmer of hope” while falsely accusing Israel of “relentless bombardment,” “apartheid,” and “genocide.” These statements are demonstrably untrue and dangerously inflammatory.
Public officials who spread such falsehoods dishonor the victims of terrorism and undermine efforts to build lasting peace. Elected leaders have a moral duty to reject propaganda from terror organizations and to stand with America’s democratic ally, Israel, whose actions have dismantled a terror network, liberated hostages, and given both Israelis and Palestinians a chance at a future free from tyrannical terrorism.
In addition, ICAN notes with concern that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) released a new statement on October 13, 2025, titled “Until Palestinian Liberation,” which contains some of the most extreme and misleading rhetoric issued since the ceasefire announcement. The DSA document openly rejects the current peace process, describing it as “a conditional ceasefire agreement [that] does not wash the hands of the ruling class that… continued to fuel and arm genocide while stoking regional war.” It claims that “Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people” constitutes “genocide” and that “the future of Gaza continues to be negotiated, not self-determined.” The statement further declares that “Israel terrorizes the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, and Iran,” and concludes by calling for “the end of Israel’s colonization and occupation of all Arab lands.”
The DSA statement explicitly renews support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and urges escalation of economic warfare against Israel and the United States. It promotes initiatives such as “Labor for an Arms Embargo,” “Stop Fueling Genocide,” “Mask Off Maersk,” and “No Appetite for Apartheid,” calling on activists to “grind the gears of the US imperial war machine.” In doing so, DSA publicly aligns itself with campaigns that oppose U.S.–Israel defense cooperation, target American companies, and portray the elimination of Israel as the ultimate goal.
ICAN recognizes that statements like this are not isolated expressions of political extremism but part of a growing ideological campaign aimed at undermining both Israel and the United States. The worldview reflected in the DSA’s declaration is explicitly anti-Israel and implicitly anti-American—rejecting democratic legitimacy, promoting economic sabotage against U.S. industries, and portraying the United States as a malign actor in global affairs. This ideology is metastasizing from fringe activism into state and local institutions, where city councils, school boards, and legislatures have begun to echo its language through “ceasefire” resolutions, divestment motions, and radical ethnic studies mandates. ICAN will continue to expose and confront this threat by educating public officials, mobilizing civic advocates, and fortifying legislative safeguards that protect both American democracy and the U.S.–Israel alliance. Through sustained engagement at every level of government, ICAN will ensure that extremist narratives seeking to delegitimize America and its allies are met with truth, accountability, and the strength of shared democratic values.
American Leadership, Israeli Resolve
The release of the hostages is the direct result of steadfast U.S. leadership and Israeli resolve. It represents not merely the end of captivity for innocent Israelis, but the vindication of a principle: that terrorism cannot be excused or rewarded. Peace will not come from moral ambiguity or false equivalence, but from clarity, courage, and strength.
ICAN reaffirms its unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself, for the immediate return of all hostage remains, and for the full implementation of the Gaza Peace Framework under American and Israeli leadership. The hostages’ freedom demonstrates that when the United States and Israel act together from a position of principle and power, terror collapses, peace advances, and the free world stands taller.