Kin of Israeli hostages outside Red Cross DC plead for their release

Relatives of Israelis abducted by Hamas last month assembled outside the headquarters of the American Red Cross in DC on Sunday to urge the international community to maintain pressure and demand the release of their family members Rain or shine every Sunday relatives hold photos and invoke the names of their captured loved ones Bring them home now is the chant for a young boy a husband and wife and even a ninemonthold infant among the missingAs the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is back on track the militants freed 17 more hostages Relatives back in DC hoped that the truce would be extended and maybe their loved ones would be home As desperate families plead for help some drew a parallel between the 2611 terror attacks by LashkareTaiba LeT in Mumbai fifteen years ago and Hamas in Israel earlier last month emphasizing that all acts of terrorism are unjustifiable and need to stopBoaz Atzili spoke of his cousin Aviv Atzilli a 44yearold Israeli who was presumably taken hostage along with his wife Liat Atzilli from their hometown of Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 Boaz told ANI that his missing cousins phone was geolocated to Gaza and shared that all that he knows is that Atzilis house was burned down Red Cross has been trying to reach them hostages but contrary to international law and human dignity Hamas is not allowing them to reach the hostagesso even if they Hamas doesnt release them at least Red Cross should be allowed to check on them and their needs Atzilli saidNearly two months after Hamas militants dragged hostages into Gaza during a bloody crossborder attack on Israel that also killed 1200 people 58 have been set free and Boaz is hopeful that in the days ahead there could be some good news for his missing loved ones and many others still missing I just want to emphasize that this is not about Israel or Palestine This is a humanitarian issue There are people there from many countries There are Jews Muslims Buddhists and Christians even some from Indias neighbours Nepal and Thailand They should all come back home he added assertedReferring to the Mumbai attacks Atzilli said Whether its LashkareTaiba or Hamas these attacks on civilians should not happen and we should all be united against any kind of act of terror Standing next to Boaz is a young American Sapir Yarden of Israeli heritage She holds the picture of baby Kfir who is just ten months old and was taken hostage along with his parents Yarden and Shiri and sibling Ariel by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir OzYarden draws a close parallel between Children held hostage in Gaza to Baby Moshe during the 2611 terror attacks The situation with Moshe 15 years ago that he was left orphaned is being repeated again today with the civilian population in Israel where many families were torn apart said Sapir who held a flier with Baby Kfir pictureChildren have been separated from their mothers or from their siblings We are waiting for the safe release of all civilians Harden said Hamas militants abducted about 240 people and killed 1400 during the October attack according to Israeli authorities The hostages include soldiers civilians and 33 children Yael Meroz one of the IsraeliAmericans stood in front of the gathered crowd urging the Red Cross and world leaders to exert pressure on Hamas to release the hostagesWe expect Prime Minister Modi who is a great ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel as a world leader of one of the most populous sovereign countries in the world to use his means and throw his weight on the side of releasing the hostages she said while speaking to ANI I believe that India as a sovereign nation and as a democracy has a role to play on the world stage of creating pressure on Hamas creating an ally with Israel and with Egypt and with Qatar and all the other entities that are involved in their release of the hostages to act immediately for their release she added Standing shouldertoshoulder visibly teary and some stoic the crowds concluded their Sunday meet by ringing bells and prayers for missing loved onesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever