Israeli hostages' images projected at UN HQ, demanding their release

Massive projections of images of Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas, including infants, women and the elderly, were displayed outside the UN headquarters in New York, calling for the freeing of the captives in Gaza.

A group of Israelis living in the US displayed pictures of the hostages, including Ariel, 4, and Yaffa, 85, at the UN headquarters. Messages such as "Hamas is ISIS," "Bring them home now," and "Abducting Israeli civilians is a crime against humanity" were projected at the UN's main building. 

The US-based Command Centre for the family members of the captives demanded the return of all the captives, noting that keeping them hostage violates international law.

It called for the rapid opening of a humanitarian corridor so that supplies like food and medication can be distributed. The Command Centre also urged world leaders, notably those from the Arab countries, to take action. 

"The world must know. The world needs to wake up. We will not rest until our brothers and sisters, who were violently and murderously kidnapped, will come home to their families." the Command Centre activists in New York stated. 

Locals called on the Israeli administration to exchange captives or convicts with the terrorist organisation Hamas at a rally earlier on Thursday in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. In order to secure the release of the women and children who are being held hostage, the activists have urged the Israeli government to speak with Hamas. To highlight the demands, they made use of posters and raised slogans.

"The government of Israel should talk to Hamas to ensure that the women, children and civilians who have been taken hostage should be released," a protestor in Tel Aviv was quoted by ANI. 

Another local protester argued that the government ought to use all available means to secure the safe return of the captives who have been abducted.

After their attacks on southern Israel on Saturday, Hamas terrorists, according to Israel's envoy to the UN on Monday, were holding up to 150 hostages in various parts of Gaza. 

According to Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the number of people killed and injured as a result of Hamas terror strikes against Israel has risen to 1,300.

He also discussed the ongoing initiatives to collect the bodies and transport them to Tel Aviv so that they can be identified before being returned to their families. He described it as a "tedious and detailed process" and said that Israel hadn't previously encountered something like this.

Lt. Col. Conricus stated, "Unfortunately the number of Israeli casualties has risen to 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldiers and more than 3,000 wounded. There is a massive national effort involving almost all of the security organisations and many of the ministries of the Israeli state, which is focused on taking the bodies from the same communities that we spoke about yesterday, like for instance... and other communities and the entire southern area, collecting the bodies, bringing them to a centre in Tel Aviv, identifying them and then making sure they are next to their kin. Their loved ones are able to take them and to provide them with a final and respectable burial that's ongoing," 

"It is a tedious and long and detailed process, taking lots of resources. We have never, ever in our history been forced to deal with such a situation and it is ongoing. It will take days and as we match and identify more and more of the Israeli bodies that are uncovered in the communities, we will have more information about missing persons," he said.

(With ANI inputs)