Tel Aviv, Israel — Iair Horn, an Argentine national, was recently released by Hamas after 498 days of captivity in Gaza. Upon his release, Horn sent a heartfelt message to former President Donald Trump, urging him to intervene and secure the release of his younger brother, Eitan, who remains in captivity. Horn’s plea comes amidst the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the inhuman conditions endured by hostages.

Horn, 46, wrote in an opinion column published by Fox News, “While my body is at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, my heart and my soul will continue to be trapped in Gaza.” He continued, “While my brother Eitan and the other hostages remain captive there, I will also continue to be a hostage. The few forces that I have left completely to fight for their return before it is too late.”

Horn also spoke about the murders and the delivery of the bodies by Hamas of Shiri Bibas and his two small children, Kfir and Ariel, only 9 months and 4 years at the time of his kidnapping. “In which world do we live, where some terrorists murder an innocent baby, his little brother and an older man?” he asked. “It torments me a single thought: will it be my brother Eitan next? Will there be more families who receive their loved ones in coffins? We cannot allow this to happen.”

Horn detailed the inhuman conditions of his captivity and the suffering he shared with his brother. “For a month I did not know if Eitan was alive or dead. When they finally gathered us, we were together until the day of my release, a moment that tears my heart every second of each day,” he recalled.

He further described the psychological and physical torture they endured. “Physical torture was unbearable, but psychological torture was what almost destroyed us: The constant fear that each breath could be the last, that any word or movement could trigger the violence of our captors. They deprived us of food, they interrogated us, they mistreated us. I survived by concentrating only on resisting another day, and then another.”

Horn also warned about his brother’s health. “My brother Eitan is seriously ill and needs medication that he is not receiving. He has severe infections and dangerous fevers. Every hour that passes puts his life at greater risk.”

In his message to President Trump, Horn expressed his gratitude and urged him to continue managing the release of more kidnapped. “I will always have life. The story will remember as the leader who took decisive measures when it mattered, who defended the sacred value of human life. Everything he does from now on will be thanks to his efforts. But there is still urgent work to do. I beg you to use your influence once again to bring home to those who remain. We need your help now more than ever.”

Horn also made an emotional promise with his former kidnapping partners: “I promised those I left behind that I would do everything within my reach to achieve their release.”

To his brother Eitan, he wrote, “Endures. Just as you gave me strength during our darker days together, I will not rest until you and all the other hostages return home. As long as there are hostages in Gaza, none of us will be truly free.”

On October 7, 2023, Iair Horn was kidnapped with his younger brother, Eitan, in their home at the Kibutz Nir Oz, one of the communities most affected by the terrorist attack, which is adjacent to the Gaza Strip.

Horn lived during his childhood in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Crespo and is a declared fan of Atlanta. In fact, before the release of Horn, a video showed him as a young man, with the team of the team, in a very excited television note before a crucial game. “From Atlanta we celebrate that Iair can meet with his family, while we want with all our forces that Eitan can have the same destination soon,” the club said in a statement.

Before his capture, Iair Horn, who has lived in Israel from the age of 22, worked in construction and was very involved in the life of the Kibutz, organizing parties and activities. He was also in charge of the local bar.

Eitan (35), who was visiting his brother at the time of his capture, is dedicated to the area of education, working with young people traveling through curricula and accompanied children of primary and secondary level.

The father of both, Itzik Horn, is an Argentine journalist who in 2000 moved with his wife Ruthie Strom and his third child, Amos, to Israel.

On the day of the attack, Itzik Horn asked his son, “Are you in the shelter?” He never got an answer. Then he learned that his two children were together. His mother, Ruthie, was able to briefly talk with his children that day. “I wrote to them and asked them if they were in the shelter, which is IAir’s room,” she told Israeli media Ynet. “Yes, we are here,” they answered. “Did they close the key? How are they?” She yet retended without dimensioning the seriousness of the matter. “Of ten,” Iair replied. “Well, at least now you’re not alone,” Ruthie told his son “Iao,” as she calls him, and that was the last communication in 16 months.

The brothers were initially classified as missing, but with the first hostage releases during a brief ceasefire in November 2023 came the life tests: One of the witnesses crossed the tunnels to Gaza along with Eitan, another was in the same vehicle in which the brothers were transferred, and the last claimed to have remained locked in the same room as they.

In January of this year, a few days before the ceasefire was reached, Hamas leaked to several media the list of 33 hostages that could be released, in which both Iair and the children Bibas and their mother appeared. Eitan did not appear among the names.

After months of indirect negotiations, the parties in conflict agreed to stop the fire with the help of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. The truce has governed since January 19 and pauses more than 15 months of conflict in the Gaza Strip.