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Families of hostages, Jewish leaders plead to put politics aside and bring home Hamas captives
(New York Jewish Week) – In front of a crowd of 200 outside the United Nations, Navé Strauss described his cousin, Hagar — who loves traveling, trying new food, listening to Radiohead, and has three children, one of whom celebrated their 10th birthday on Oct. 6.
“Have I humanized it enough?” Strauss said. “Do you know this person? I’m sure you know this person. But she’s somewhere in Gaza and I don’t know where and I don’t know when I’m going to see her next.”
Like hundreds of other Israelis, Hagar and her three children are being held by Hamas, which took the captives when it invaded Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 and wounding thousands. At the gathering on Wednesday morning, relatives of the hostages pressed for their release and criticized the international response to the abductions.
Strauss, other family members of hostages and New York City politicians and Jewish leaders addressed the crowd, vowing to keep the hostages’ plight on the public agenda — and to prevent it from being subsumed by debate over the war between Hamas and Israel.
“I’m not interested in politics, I’m not interested in ‘othering,’” Strauss said. “There are children in danger.”
In all, Israel says it has notified the families of 199 hostages that their loved ones are in Gaza. Hamas says other terror groups operating in the territory are holding about 50 additional people. Hamas released footage of one of the captives on Monday, a video widely understood as a psychological ploy.
“We feel this viscerally in New York. We feel as if these children are our children,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who is Jewish. “Because of their pain we will not be silent. We are demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.”
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, flanked by Israelis whose family members are held by Hamas, at a rally demanding their release, in New York City, October 18, 2023. (Luke Tress)
Flanked by students from the Ramaz School, an Orthodox day school in Manhattan, holding fliers with images of the captives, Levine said in Hebrew, “We’re not forgetting and we’re not giving up. We will do all we can to return them home in peace. We promise.”
Also at the rally at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza were New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is Jewish; the chair of the City Council’s Jewish Caucus, Eric Dinowitz; other New York City lawmakers; and representatives of the New York Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the UJA-Federation of New York and the American Jewish Committee’s New York chapter; and Shany Granot-Lubaton, a prominent Israeli activist.
Several speakers lamented that the hostage crisis hasn’t drawn harsher condemnations, decrying what they said was a double standard against Israel.
“Kidnapping is very straightforward. Somehow that message gets lost,” Dinowitz said. “In every generation we face strife and challenges, and in every generation there are people who question our simple right to exist.”
Levine compared the situation to the global outcry when Boko Haram terrorists abducted 276 girls in Nigeria, sparking a massive international response.
“Where is that level of outrage now?” he said. “Where are the government denunciations? Where is the clear messaging from the United Nations? Where’s the outrage on social media?”
Israel supporters hold images of Hamas hostages at a rally demanding their release, in New York City, October 18, 2023. (Luke Tress)
Ahead of the protest, the Ramaz students led the crowd in a rendition of traditional Jewish songs calling for God to help those in distress and protect children. Attendees stood in a circle, some holding images of the hostages and Israeli flags. The conference wrapped up with the audience singing Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
In the area around the plaza, fliers with photos of the captives and information about them were taped to streetlights and parking meters, part of an international campaign to raise awareness of the crisis.
Speakers largely did not address how Israel should conduct its war on Hamas or what the outcome of the fighting should be, though Strauss did suggest that arms should be laid down so that the hostage crisis could be addressed.
“There are actual human beings who are in danger right now,” Strauss told the crowd. “Drop the weapons, stop the fighting, prioritize the hostages.”
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The post Families of hostages, Jewish leaders plead to put politics aside and bring home Hamas captives appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.