On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, hundreds of people marched in Central Park on Sunday calling for peace and demanding that the remaining hostages held captive over the past year finally be returned to their families.
“This is not a political issue, this is a human rights issue,” said one senior while carrying the photograph of a hostage taken captive one year prior. She was just one of the throng of men, women, and children assembled on 90th Street and Central Park West to mourn the catastrophic loss of life and plead for the return of those still in Hamas’ captivity for an entire year.
“Fifty-three children under the age of 18 were murdered on Oct. 7, 20 children have become orphans from both parents on Oct. 7 — 923 orphans since the beginning of this war,” said Dana Cwaigrach of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “There’s also a lot of lives lost in Gaza and in Palestine. We want this war to end. We want to continue to live peacefully. There are 101 hostages still remaining in captivity.”
Attendees marked the somber commemoration by erecting a fence and fastening images of the hostages to it, dubbing it “the wall of hope.” A choir belted out songs of remembrance — leaving many in attendance in tears.
Among the mourners, the families of those who are still held against their will by Hamas spoke out on their plight, clutching the photos of their loved ones, the ages crossed out and their updated ages scrawled in one behind it.
Edan Alexander of New Jersey has now spent a year away from his mother, father, and brothers. His mother, Yael Alexannder, says she spoke with him just before his capture, and has lived every day since with heartbreaking worry. Yet she is comforted by reports that he is working to help others even while in captivity.
“I was in Israel when Edan called me around 7 a.m., he was stationed near the Gaza border. That morning, he told me he was okay, even though things were already getting dangerous around him. That was the last time I heard my son’s voice. As a mother, I cannot describe the pain of not knowing where your child is,” Yael Alexander said. “We learned from hostages who were released Edan had been helping others. He remained strong, comforting children and even assisting hostages from Thailand by translating for them. He greets the new captive with a smile as they enter the tunnels. That’s who Edan is.”
But it is not just the families living with the pain. IDF soldier Stav Cohen spoke to the surrounding crowd, admitting that the war has impacted him to such a degree that he often wakes up at night screaming from nightmares.
“I woke up a few months ago screaming during the night. That’s when my girlfriend told me, you got to do something about it,” Cohen said. “So, I did. I went to see a psychologist and it helped. But I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking about them, thinking about our brothers and sisters who are still being held in Gaza’s tunnels, and I’ve seen these terrorists. I know what they can do.”
The occasion culminated with hundreds marching throughout the park yelling: “Let our people go.”
The anniversary event is just one of many scheduled to take place around New York City on Sunday and Monday. Protests are also expected among those sympathetic to Palestinians caught in the war in Gaza.
