RSS
Released hostage and families of those still captive join thousands at rally marking 100 days since Oct. 7

(New York Jewish Week) – An Israeli child who was freed from Hamas captivity and relatives of those still held hostage addressed a crowd of thousands outside the United Nations at a rally marking 100 days since the terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.
The rally featured Israeli and American flags and the singing of Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.” Speeches mentioned Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. But most speakers — including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Chuck Schumer — focused their remarks on the plight of the hostages.
Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri, implored the crowd to keep pushing for the hostages’ release. Shoshani was taken captive along with her mother and a friend, and was released in an exchange deal in late November that saw more than 100 hostages go free. Organizers said her speech was the first by a former Israeli captive in the U.S.
“Life as a hostage in Gaza is not life, it is hell. I came all the way here to ask the whole world to help us bring back all of the hostages,” she said. “We can’t leave them there. Their families are waiting for them. Bring them home, please.”
In addition to carrying flags, attendees wore stickers saying, “Today is day 100,” and pins showing photos of the captives. Signs in Hebrew said, “100 days of hell,” and in English, “Let my people go.” At the start of the rally, participants held a moment of silence for the hostages for 100 seconds.
Volunteers in Midtown East’s Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza sold sweatshirts and beanies that said “Bring them home” to raise money for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, one of the central groups advocating for the captives and an organizer of the rally. Organizers estimated that the demonstration drew 2,500 people.
Yair Moses, whose father, Gadi Moses, 79, is held hostage, described his anguish, saying he had been unable to eat or sleep since his father was taken. His voice broke at times during his speech.
“There are other elderly men there, like my father. No one knows if they will be able to recover from this, physically or mentally,” Moses said. “There are young women there. We have already heard witness accounts that tell of the horrors they have gone through and are still going through.”
He added, “Time is running out, and the longer they stay there the greater the risk to their lives.”
Demonstrators rally in support of Hamas hostages near the U.N., Jan. 12, 2024. (Luke Tress)
The demonstration was held in place of weekly Friday morning gatherings outside the home of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres on behalf of the hostages. The rally kicked off a series of events in support of the hostages that will be held throughout the city over the weekend.
From Friday afternoon through Saturday night, an hourglass installation will sit in Times Square symbolizing that “time is running out” — a replica of a display in Tel Aviv.
On Sunday morning, the 100th day since Oct. 7, a “100 Days March” will take place in Central Park. Activists have been holding weekly Sunday running sessions in the park, part of a campaign in New York and other cities dubbed “Run For Their Lives.” Participants in the events will hold photos of the hostages and wear yellow ribbons, a symbol of the captives. The New York run will begin at Central Park West and 90th Street.
Also on Sunday, a separate event lasting most of the day in Washington Square Park will feature musicians playing songs at a yellow piano open to the public in honor of Alon Ohel, a 22-year-old pianist who is being held hostage.
In addition to Hochul and Schumer, a range of public officials, rabbis and Jewish organizational leaders from across the city attended Friday’s rally. The event was co-sponsored by a wide array of U.S. Jewish groups.
Hochul said she had been devastated during a visit to Kfar Aza, one of the communities hardest hit in Hamas’ attack, shortly after Oct. 7. She voiced support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas and decried the lack of attention to hostages in the public sphere.
“Why are not people across this world demanding the freedom of these hostages?” Hochul asked. “Where is the outrage? Where’s the daily coverage of the suffering of the hostages and their families?”
She continued, “I want them brought home now and I want the rest of the world to start saying the same thing because it is barbaric and inhumane to hold them one day longer.”
Demonstrators rally in support of Hamas hostages near the U.N., Jan. 12, 2024. (Luke Tress)
The crowd was composed largely of American Jews and included delegations from local Jewish high schools. Some attendees cried and embraced during the speeches. Jewish-Israeli singer Shimon Smith performed the song “Nigmar” (Hebrew for “It’s over”) by Israeli star Idan Amedi, the “Fauda” singer and actor who was badly injured in combat in Gaza this week. Amedi rose to prominence in 2010 with the song “Warrior’s Pain,” about a combat soldier struggling with PTSD.
Ellen Muss and Laura Green attended the rally holding milk cartons with images of the Hamas captives, part of an awareness campaign recalling efforts to locate missing persons. Muss’ carton bore the image of Kfir Bibas, the redheaded baby taken by Hamas who remains held in Gaza and who has become a symbol of the captives.
“We felt a very strong attachment to the hostages and it’s just keeping the awareness alive for everybody that it’s almost 100 days,” Muss said. She was in Israel several weeks ago and visited “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, an installation in support of the captives next to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where she met the sister of hostage Omri Miran and showed her photos of the milk carton campaign in New York.
“She was so touched to know that we’re still thinking about them,” Muss said. “This could have been you, your sister, your grandmother, and that’s what we have to tell people.”
—
The post Released hostage and families of those still captive join thousands at rally marking 100 days since Oct. 7 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
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.”
RSS
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.
RSS
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.