Battling emotions, families of Hamas hostages gather in NYC to demand their release
NEW YORK -- Monday is expected to be a somber day, particularly for Jewish people around the world. More than 1,200 men, women and children were killed in the surprise attack by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, there has been more violence in the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli attacks over the past year have killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, and the war has displaced nearly the entire Gaza population.
Just Sunday, an Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip killed at least 19 people. This as Israel intensifies its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with terror groups across the region.
In the Tri-State Area, families are repeating their calls to bring Israeli hostages home.
Every weekend since Oct. 7, there has been a gathering in Central Park. On Sunday, almost exactly a year later, emotions were still just as raw.
"In a million years I never thought that we would reach this point," Adi Alexander said.
Edan Alexander's story
Adi Alexander's son, Edan Alexander, grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. He joined the Israeli Defense Forces two years ago, and on Oct. 7, while protecting residential areas near the Gaza border, was taken by Hamas. His mother, Yael Alexander, was visiting family in Israel at the time.
"He told me even though things were already getting dangerous around him. That was the last time I heard my son's voice. I cannot describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how is he," Yael Alexander said.
Pictures of even more loved ones, hostages still believed to be alive and those who have passed, were posted on a fence tied with yellow ribbon. Families wore stickers with the number 366 on them, marking a grim milestone in the amount of days the war has carried on.
"There is nothing to justify what is happening, and there's also a lot of lives lost in Gaza and in Palestine. We want this war to end," organizer Dana Cwaigrach said.
"We are in an upside-down world"
Families have had to update the ages of hostages on their posters, just emphasizing the fact that they've had to spend several holidays and even their own birthdays away from their loved ones.
"You can't think about it all the time or else you drive yourself insane. So you have to balance thinking about the reality of the situation and also taking time to just touch grass, breathe air, and be with the people you love because that's really what matters most," said Samantha Levy, of the Upper West Side.
Although it has been nothing short of a painful year for these families, they believe there's strength in numbers as they call for their loved ones to make it home alive.
"It's a day-to-day struggle. We are in an upside-down world, but we have to stay focused. We have two more kids to raise and just to stay strong for our kid. We have no choice," Adi Alexander said. "A cease-fire would give families on both sides a chance to reunite to children, to feel safe again and for peace to begin."
Hostages and Missing Families Forum plans to hold a memorial for the lives lost in the war on Monday outside of Columbia University.
On Sunday night, Gov. Kathy Kochul spoke at a service at Temple Israel Center in White Plains and called Hamas a "barbaric group of terrorists."
"I still have the shoes I wore as I stepped through puddles of blood. The innocent children torn from their parents' arms or murdered in front of them," Hochul added.
Nova Music Festival survivor reflects on Oct. 7
Raif Rashed stood in a loss for words at his food stand Taboonia, which opened Sunday at the Upper West Side's Grand Bazaar. It's just like the setup he had at the Nova Music Festival, where he and his brother served Druze cuisine. The Israeli-Arab family is of the Druze faith.
"Oct. 7 changed my life, changed my life that day," Rashed said.
He witnessed murders as he ran for hours for his life through the forest. Eventually, he reunited with his brother at an Israeli army tank.
"We lost too many friends and many, too many, days and weeks we just looking around where is this day," Rashed said. "The message for me is just be kind, be good people. No reason to kill for no reason."