Israeli activist in Chicago on a mission to raise awareness of brothers held hostage by Hamas
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The war in Gaza has been raging for more than a year now, and many are still pushing for the secure and safe return of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack last year.
One young woman is on a mission to raise awareness of two brothers still being held captive by Hamas.
"Ever since October 7th, I've stopped my life completely. I was a college student, and I stopped college. I stopped my job," Noa Reuveni said.
Her purpose for the last year has been raising awareness for twin brothers Ziv and Gali Berman, and the nearly 100 other hostages kidnapped by Hamas during an attack on Israel.
"I feel like, as time goes by, they are forgotten," she said.
Ziv and Gali Berman were forcefully taken from their community when Hamas terrorists attacked Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel.
"I received over 20 messages from him saying, 'I'm scared. I'm shaking. I can't relax. Where is the IDF?'" Reuveni said.
Reuveni was one of the last people to hear from the brothers, and she hasn't stopped talking about them since. She regularly addresses crowds in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, and she's on a mission here in the U.S.
This week, in Chicago, she's speaking with Jewish organizations about her friends and the hostage crisis. It's her third trip to America in the last two months.
"I quite honestly don't think enough is being done by the U.S. for the hostages," she said.
Room by room, city by city, Reuveni said she will not stop advocating for Ziv and Gali until all of the hostages are home.
"What gives me strength is them. Ziv and Gali give me strength," she said. "The day we stop talking about them is the day that we're giving up on them."
Reuveni said, so far, there have been no videos or pictures released of the brothers. The only proof of life is from another hostage who was released and reported seeing them alive.