‘I need you to fight’: Siblings of Hamas hostages address crowd in NY’s Central Park

The siblings of four Hamas hostages address a crowd of several hundred in New York City’s Central Park, expressing hope that a deal to free the captives may be forthcoming.

“It can be a matter of days and we need to push stronger than ever to make it happen and make all the world leaders understand this is the most important thing,” says Amit Levi, the brother of hostage Naama Levi.

Sasha Ariev, the older sister of hostage Karina Ariev, says, “For 14 months [I’ve been] crying out for Karina and the hostages but my voice is fading away.”

“I need you, I need you to fight for Karina with me. We cannot allow this situation to be normalized,” she says.

Sasha Ariev, older sister of Hamas hostage Karina Ariev, addresses a crowd at the weekly hostages rally in Central Park pic.twitter.com/htAF4rvy8X

— Luke Tress (@luketress) December 15, 2024

Yarden Gonen, the sister of hostage Romi Gonen, and Roy Chen, brother of the captive Itay Chen, also address the crowd, asking the public to continue to call for a hostage deal.

The families attend the rally after holding meetings in Washington, DC.

The weekly rallies in Central Park have continued to go strong after 14 months of war, despite fatigue and the winter cold.

The crowd gathers each Sunday morning in the park near the Upper West Side holding signs showing the faces and the names of the hostages. Many wear yellow ribbons, a symbol of the hostages’ plight, and carry Israeli flags.

The rallies are organized by a group of Israelis living in New York City.

Ruthie Liebowitz, 82, has been coming to the rallies since the beginning.

“It’s the same people every week. I don’t see numbers going down,” she says. “We’re not drawing many new people and that’s what’s sad.”

The event closes with organizers reading out the first names of each hostage, and the crowd shouting “Now!” after each hostage’s name. The group then sings Israel’s anthem, “Hatikvah,” or “The Hope.”