Kathy Manning: “For the purpose of closing. Mr. Speaker, I have spent the past 6 weeks meeting with families of innocent civilians who…”

“For the purpose of closing. Mr. Speaker, I have spent the past 6 weeks meeting with families of innocent civilians who were taken hostage by Hamas. Just like the stories of Holocaust survivors, each story is unique. Each story is heartbreaking because each of these hostages has loving family members whose lives have been torn apart, who are living with the agony of not knowing what has become of their loved ones. Are they okay? Are they healthy? Are they injured? Are they alive? Will they ever see them again? I have heard stories that have brought me to tears, that haunt my dreams, that should make all of us redouble our efforts to bring those hostages home. Mr. Speaker, the past few days have seen significant breakthroughs in attempts to bring the hostages held by Hamas home to their families. Dozens of hostages, including a few Americans, have been released, especially over the past few days. I applaud the efforts of this administration, Israel, Qatar, and others who have worked to ensure that the temporary cease-fire holds and that the agreed-upon hostages are released, but there is much more work to be done. Even after these last rounds of releases, dozens of hostages still remain imprisoned by Hamas. This is unacceptable. We cannot afford to go back to the status quo.…”