Kushner marks one year since release of last 20 living Israeli hostages

(Oct. 13, 2026 / JNS)

Jared Kushner on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the release of the final 20 living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Oct. 13, 2025. He recalled their reunions with their families as “one of the most special moments of my life.”

Kushner praised the former hostages and their families for demonstrating strength and resilience after two years of captivity.

Kushner thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his leadership in securing the hostages’ release, along with senior U.S. officials and leaders from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey who helped negotiate the agreement. “Above all, today belongs to the freed hostages and their families,” he wrote.

Trump’s son-in-law, who serves as U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions alongside Steve Witkoff, marked the one-year anniversary of the president’s 20-point Gaza peace plan on Friday, pointing to the return of all Israeli hostages and increased humanitarian aid while warning that critical challenges, including disarming the Hamas terrorist organization, remain ahead.

“One year ago today, on October 9, 2025, we reached an agreement on President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza many believed impossible,” he wrote on X.

“After two years of devastating war, the agreement created a path to reunite hostage families with their loved ones, bring security to Israel, relieve the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and build a different future for the region,” wrote Kushner. “One year later, it’s remarkable how much has changed. The situation is far from perfect, but the progress is real, and the world is better for it.”

Kushner highlighted key milestones achieved since the agreement, including the return of the final living Israeli hostages days after the deal and the handover of the remaining deceased captives’ remains in January. He also pointed to the creation of a Palestinian technocratic administration, a 72% surge in humanitarian aid deliveries and initial commitments toward an international stabilization force.

IDF strikes kill Hamas, PIJ terrorists in southern Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had eliminated five terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in two strikes in the southern Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, an IDF strike in the Khan Yunis area eliminated three operatives of the Al-Quds Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s “military wing,” as they were meeting to advance attacks against IDF soldiers, the military said.

The IDF named them as Muhammad Abu Hajjaj, an engineering operative; Yousef Abu Razak, a deputy squad commander; and Abdelhamid Jadallah, a rocket array operative.

A second strike on Monday eliminated Salah al-Din Iyad Abd al-Hamid and Izz al-Din Iyad Diab Barhoum, who served as Nukhba Force terrorists in Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, according to the IDF.

“Recently, the terrorists advanced terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians and operated to restore the military capabilities of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations, in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the statement said.

The IDF stressed it used precise munitions and aerial surveillance to mitigate harm to noncombatants.

Israeli forces remain deployed in Gaza in accordance with the Oct. 10, 2025, ceasefire deal brokered by the U.S. and will continue to eliminate “any immediate threat,” the statement added.