Families plead for United Nations' help freeing loved ones held hostage by Hamas
NEW YORK -- Some families of Israelis and Americans taken hostage by Hamas addressed the United Nations on Friday, asking the world to help.
This comes as relatives of Palestinians caught in the middle of the war worry their families won't make it out alive.
"I am pleading for your help to bring my family back," Alana Zeitchik said.
At the U.N., heartbroken Americans and Israelis pleaded with the world to bring their loved ones taken hostage by Hamas back alive.
"I am a father whose entire family got taken away from him -- my wife and two baby daughters," Yoni Asher said.
Asher knows his family was forcefully taken to Gaza. He saw social media video of his wife and children in a vehicle with their captors.
"I can't describe you such a moment in words where your family, you watch your whole family get taken away from you," he said.
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The pictures of the kidnapped were shown on a screen at the U.N. Some of them are Americans, including a rabbi's cousin.
"He was taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists, put on a truck and taken into captivity," the rabbi said.
"Extremely terrified. I have been crying literally all day because you feel there is no hope," Najwa Alsadi told CBS New York.
She says her sister, who is paralyzed, along with her family, are sheltering in place in Gaza, but she's not sure if they'll make it out alive.
"No electricity, no water. We don't know how they are going to survive," Alsadi said. "How is this allowed to happen? Whatever needs to be done, do, but leave the rest of the people alone. They should not have to pay for this."
Daniel Casher says Israelis have no choice. Casher and his team helped save his kibbutz, Yad Mordechai, from Hamas terrorists until special forces arrived.
"My children were crying. I told them and my wife, 'Just stay in safe zone,'" Casher said. "They saw that the terrorists came with motorcycles, and they start shooting at them."
All of Michael Freund's five sons will be defending Israel.
"It's been a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of anxiety, but a great deal of pride. I'm proud of them," he said. "I just tell them how much I love them and how much I take pride in them and in what they are doing."
The United States ambassador to the U.N. says the U.S. is working closely with Israeli partners to bring American hostages back. The Israeli consulate says 21 Americans are missing and 18 have been murdered.
