Central Park demonstrators call on Netanyahu to reach hostage release deal after 6 bodies recovered in Gaza

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Hundreds of demonstrators attended a Central Park rally held by the New York branch of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum on Sunday morning after Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages who were killed in Gaza. Rally-goers dedicated the event to the victims and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal with Hamas to bring home the remaining hostages.

The six people killed included Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; Carmel Gat, 40; and Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, whose parents Rachel and Jonathan have been influential in the #BringThemHome movement, actively meeting with high-ranking officials to call for the return of their son and all other Hamas-held hostages.

At Sunday’s rally and march, held near 90th Street and Central Park West, the organization’s weekly meeting turned into one of mourning and of calls to action as hostage family members spoke to the crowd.

Gustavo Bruckner, Gat's cousin, pointed attention away from Hamas during his speech and instead toward the Israeli government, which has been increasingly criticized as hostage negotiations have continued to drag on for nearly 11 months.

“Israel’s existential threat is not Hamas, nor Hezballa, or even the Islamic Republic of Iran. If even one hostage doesn’t return, even one, Israel’s sacred pact with its citizens is broken and that is an existential threat,” Bruckner said. “My family has paid the ultimate price, may there be no more.”

This statement matches the tone of protests in Israel, where grieving and angry citizens rushed to the streets on Sunday while chanting “Now! Now!” as demands for Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire intensified. Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, has also pressured the Israeli government by calling for a general strike to begin Monday.

Rally speaker Maurice Schneider—whose niece Shiri Bibas, her husband Yarden and their children Ariel and Kfir were abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel—said that all 101 remaining hostages, without exception, must be released.

“And then I see the names. It doesn’t matter whose names [they are]. It’s us. It doesn't matter if it’s my niece, Hersh, or anybody else, we’re all the same," Schneider said during an emotional speech.

Moshe Emilio Lavi, brother-in-law of Omri Miran (abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7), also spoke, sharing his anger toward Hamas for kidnapping his loved one and toward his leaders for not taking further action to bring him home.

“I blame the brutal Hamas terrorists for kidnapping Omri, and I blame our leaders, all our leaders, for every single day they’re not home and every hostage that lost their life in the most horrible conditions,” he said. “Empathy isn’t enough, we need actions.”

Between speakers, rally-goers sung in prayer and chanted phrases like “seal the deal,” in a further push for negotiations to secure the safe return of the remaining hostages.

The Sunday morning rally will be followed by a candlelight vigil to mourn the victims, which will be held next to the golden statue in Columbus Circle at 8 p.m., organizers said.

“Family members of hostages, public officials, Rabbis and community leaders will meet to light candles for all the cherished souls who were brutally murdered by Hamas in captivity just days ago—and could have and should have been saved,” the organization explained. “We will call to end this torture and save the remaining hostages now—they have no more time.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.