A whole lot of individuals — together with a former Israeli hostage and the mother and father of 1 nonetheless held — flocked to Central Park on Sunday to name on Hamas to free the remaining captives as a cease-fire deal stays elusive.
The “Convey Them Dwelling Now” rally noticed protesters demand the liberty of the as much as 100 hostages being held by Hamas, together with seven American-Israelis.
Former hostage Moran Stella Yanai, 41, mentioned her coronary heart breaks for these nonetheless trapped in Gaza, lots of whom have been like her, having fun with the Nova Music Competition on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked.
“On that morning, at 6.29 [a.m.], all this freedom become a hell on Earth,” she recalled as she fought again tears.
“The Israeli nation and the Jewish folks can not begin to heal till we convey all our family members again dwelling,” Yanai added.
Yanai, who was among the many hostages freed in November, was joined on the rally by Nitsa and Gilad Korngold, mother and father of still-captive Tal Shoham, a father of two.
Yanai mentioned she and Shoham’s mother and father have turn out to be like household, with the identical going for the remainder of the kinfolk of these held captive in Gaza.
“My brother and sisters are in ache, hungry, thirsty, however most of all, in worry,” Yanai mentioned of the situations she skilled first hand.
Whereas the previous hostage mentioned she nonetheless has hope that the remaining hostages might be freed, the most recent calls for from Hamas danger sinking the negotiations.
The fear group is now demanding that Israel free Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences for homicide in trade for the civilian hostages as a part of the primary stage of the proposed cease-fire deal, The Washington Publish mentioned.
The brand new demand has frozen the deal in its tracks as officers referred to as the prospects of liberating 150 convicted murderers from jail a “poison capsule” to the already troubled peace talks, the outlet mentioned.
The negotiations are additionally being held up by lingering questions on simply how most of the roughly 100 hostages in Gaza are nonetheless alive, after Israel recovered the our bodies of six hostages final week.
After confirming the demise of the six hostages, together with Israeli-American Hersh Goldber-Polin, 23, Israeli officers mentioned they imagine a minimum of 64 hostages are nonetheless alive.
Goldberg-Polin was amongst eight Israeli-People who have been recognized to be underneath Hamas captivity.
Officers have beforehand confirmed the deaths of Judith Weinstein Haggai, Gadi Haggai and Itay Chen.
The remaining American-Israeli residents trapped in Gaza have been recognized as Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen.
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