Amna Nawaz:
Now to the families of people held by Hamas and this agonizing six weeks of horror and worry.
Five of Abbey Onn's family members were kidnapped on October 7. Her grandmother, Carmela Dan, an American-Israeli dual national, and her 13-year-old niece, Noya, were found dead just inside Gaza one month ago. Carmela's son-in-law, Ofer, and his two other children, 16-year-old Sahar and 12-year-old Erez, are still held hostage.
Liz Hirsh Naftali is awaiting the return of the youngest American hostage, her grandniece, 3-year-old Abigail Mor Idan.
Abbey and Liz, welcome to you both. And thank you for joining us.
I just want to begin by asking both of you to share what this moment is like, knowing that a deal to release some of the hostages, at least, could be imminent.
Liz, why don't you begin?
Liz Hirsh Naftali, Great-Aunt of Hostage: Well, first, thank you for having us on the show. I think it's important for us to just keep talking about the hostages and reminding people that these are innocent civilians that were taken hostage, were abducted on October 7.
And my grandniece Abigail is 3 years old. And I am thankful for all the work that President Biden, the administration has been leading. I'm thankful to whatever support the Qatar government is and everybody that's involved.
But what I feel tonight is, like, we started this morning with this excitement that we were going to have a hostage deal. And it's now the evening, and we don't necessarily have a hostage deal. And what it is a reminder of is that, until we see Abigail and other children and mothers leaving Gaza, we cannot let go.
We cannot stop doing this work, and we can't believe it until we actually see it.
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