Families of Hamas hostages gather in Lakeview to call for more action toward captives’ release

Relatives of people taken hostage by the terrorist group Hamas called for increased efforts to release more than 200 captives during a vigil held Wednesday evening in a Lakeview synagogue.

Shani Segal, whose cousin and husband were taken hostage during the initial Oct. 7 attack, called on the U.S. government and international community to step up the pressure on Hamas to release the captives. “We want the whole world to stand with us and to help free the hostages,” she said.

“She was such an advocate for human rights,” Segal later said of her cousin, Rimon Kirsht. “She stood for everyone, she fought for everyone.”

Hundreds attended the vigil at Anshe Emet Synagogue, including several people whose family members died or were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 1,400 Israelis died in the attack. As the violence has escalated between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, an estimated 8,800 Palestinians have been killed.

Hamas has so far released four hostages, including a mother and daughter from Evanston on Oct. 20.

Consul general of Israel to the Midwest Yinam Cohen confirmed Monday that Natalie Raanan, 18, had returned to the Chicago area. Judith Raanan, 59, is still in Israel, Cohen said.

Natalie and Judith were two of 12 extended family members caught in the Oct. 7 attack. Their cousins, Or Sella and Dafna Sella said that three of their relatives had died and seven were still in captivity.

The pair asked the international community to continue calling for the release of the other hostages.

“International pressure works and it needs to get even stronger,” Or Sella said. He said Judith and Natalie are physically unharmed but “need their time to heal.”

“They need their time to do it, they need their privacy to do it,” he said.

Segal said she was heartened by Judith and Natalie’s release.

“But we still have 240 people — babies, women, elderly, children — who should not be there,” she said. “The world, not only the U.S. government, needs to put themselves together and push (for their release).”

In the balcony of the Anshe Emet sanctuary, hundreds of chairs held signs to recognize hostages. The signs showed each person’s picture, nationality and age. Cohen said “it is our moral duty to tell the story of each and every hostage held in the Gaza strip.”

“If there is one pressing humanitarian issue for me in the Gaza strip, it is the release of the hostages,” Cohen said.