NEW YORK — Monday is expected to be a somber day, especially for Jewish people around the world. More than 1,200 men, women and children were killed in the Hamas surprise attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Since then, violence has increased in the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza last year, and the war has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza.
At least 19 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a mosque in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. This comes as Israel intensifies its bombing of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with terror groups across the region.
Here in the Tri-state area, families are renewing their calls to bring Israeli hostages home.
This has been the case every weekend since October 7 a meeting in Central Park. On Sunday, almost exactly a year later, the emotions were still just as raw.
“Never in a million years did I think we would get to this point,” Adi Alexander said.
The story of Edan Alexander
Alexander’s son, Edan Alexander, grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. He joined the Israeli army two years ago and was captured by Hamas on October 7 while protecting residential areas near the Gaza border. His mother, Yael Alexander, was visiting family in Israel at the time.
“He told me even though things were getting dangerous around him. That was the last time I heard my son’s voice. I can’t describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how he is doing.” goes,” said Yael Alexander.
Photos of more loved ones, hostages believed to be alive and those who have died, are placed on a fence tied with a yellow ribbon. Families wore stickers with the number 366 on them, marking a grim milestone in the number of days the war has lasted.
“There is nothing to justify what is happening, and many lives are being lost in Gaza and Palestine. We want this war to end,” said organizer Dana Cwaigrach.
‘We live in an upside-down world’
Families had to update the ages of the hostages on their posters, only emphasizing that they had to spend several holidays and even their own birthdays without their loved ones.
“You can’t think about it all the time or you’ll go crazy. So you have to find a balance between thinking about the reality of the situation and also taking the time to just touch grass, breathe air and be at the to be with people you love because that’s really the most important thing,” says Samantha Levy of the Upper West Side.
While it has been nothing short of a painful year for these families, they believe there is strength in the numbers calling on their loved ones to come home alive.
“It’s a daily struggle. We are in an upside down world, but we have to stay focused. We have two more children to raise and just have to stay strong for our child. We have no choice,” Adi Alexander said. A ceasefire would give families on both sides a chance to reunite with children, so they can feel safe again and peace can begin.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum plans to hold a memorial Monday outside Columbia University for the lives lost in the war.
