Thirteen-year-old Hila Rotem Shoshani, who spent 50 days in Hamas captivity, called for the release of the remaining hostages as Sunday marks 100 days of the October 7 terror attack.
Shoshani was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri along with her mother Raaia Rotem Shoshani, 54, and her friend Emily Hand, 9, who had been there for a sleepover.
After spending almost two months in captivity, she was released on November 25, the second day of the ceasefire. Shoshani was released along with her friend Emily Hand, the Irish-Israeli hostage who made headlines around the world after it was initially thought she had been killed by Hamas.
This week, Shoshani traveled from Israel to New York with her uncle to speak at a rally held at the UN on Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on Friday. The first of several events taking place this weekend in New York City to mark “100 Days of Captivity,” sponsored by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Life as a hostage in Gaza is not life,” Shoshani told the crowd of protesters who spoke about her captivity for the first time to an international audience.
Thirteen-year-old Hila Rotem Shoshani, who spent 50 days in captivity, traveled from her home in Israel to New York to speak at Friday’s rally near the U.N.
“I came all this way to ask the whole world, ‘Help us bring all the hostages back home!’ “We can’t leave them there; their families are waiting for them. Take them home. Please!’
Governor Kathy Hochul and Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer joined the rally calling for the immediate release of the hostages and speaking of their support for Israel.
‘I want the hostages brought home. I want them brought home now,” Hochul said, holding up the dog tag that has become a symbol of solidarity. “And I want the rest of the world to start saying the same thing.”
‘Because it is barbaric and inhumane to detain them for another day. Bring them home! The people of Israel have the right to defend themselves, and they have the right to bring the hostages home.”
‘I want the hostages brought home. I want them brought home now,” Hochul said, holding up the dog tag that has become a symbol of solidarity. ‘And I want the rest of the world to start saying the same thing’
U.S. Senate Majority Leader and New York Senator Chuck Schumer attended the meeting. He spoke with compassion as he told the families, “I am here to say; don’t give up hope’
Hundreds gathered at the United Nations, waving Israeli flags and holding up posters of the hostages as they chanted, “Let my people go!” and “Now take them home… today.”
Schumer told the hostage families that they were gathering to speak with “one voice.”
“I know the last hundred days have been the worst of your life,” he said sympathetically. “I’m here to say don’t give up hope.”
Many relatives have spoken to loved ones in Gaza, including Yair Moses Finkelstein, whose parents were forcibly abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
Finkelstein’s mother Margalit Berta Moses, 77, was released after 49 days, but his 79-year-old father Gadi Moses remains in captivity.
He started crying as he told the crowd that “it’s been 98 days of hell,” saying it’s “getting harder every day.”
“We are here today to cry out for the hostage of humanity,” he said in part.
‘I have not slept. Who can sleep when their father is kidnapped? Who can eat when their father is kidnapped? I haven’t shaved or cut my hair and I won’t until my father comes back.’
“The longer they are gone, the greater the danger to their lives,” he said, urging them to write to their members of Congress.
The family of Edan Alexander, who turned 20 in captivity, grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel in 2022 after he graduated high school.
His family has no information about their son’s well-being, although they did not say anything at the meeting they attended with the other families during the emotional event.
Hila Roten Shoshani, 13, stood next to her uncle Yair Rotem and spoke at the rally as the crowd applauded her for her courage in attending the event and recounted her horror experience. Many sang, “Let my people go!” and “Bring it home now… today!”
Edan Alexander, 20, (pictured in the front posters) from New Jersey moved to Israel with his family in 2022. He was kidnapped on October 7 and has not been seen or heard from since. Many of his loved ones gathered at Friday’s demonstration calling for his immediate release
Many family members of the hostages have no idea their loved one is alive and have had no evidence of life since they were kidnapped on October 7.
Hundreds gathered at the UN on Friday to demand the hostages’ release
A sea of Israeli flags are held aloft during Friday’s demonstration marking ‘100 Days of Captivity’
Through an interpreter, Shoshani told DailyMail.com that the days she spent in captivity were “hell.”
The teen said she and her friend Emily Hand had a sleepover the night before the attack, one of several the couple has had over the years.
They spent time on TikTok, laughing and enjoying themselves, watching television before falling asleep only to be woken up hours later by the sound of rockets.
They ran to the safe room and hid there for six hours, she recalled, until the terrorists burst into their home and kidnapped them, taking her, her mother Raaia and Emily.
She said the terrorists put them in a car and took them to Gaza, where she would spend the next 50 days.
Although she did not reveal where she was being held, her uncle Yair Rotem told DailyMail.com that his niece, sister and friend were located above ground during their captivity and were moved to different apartments, although it is unclear whose apartments they were.
Shoshani said she was “terrified.”
She described the conditions as dark and dirty. Food was scarce. Some days, she said, it would just be some dried pita bread and other times it would be canned food.
As the bombings took place around them, she said, she feared the terrorists would take out their anger on them because their families would be killed.
Although she said she was not injured, she said “there were times when I was afraid I was going to be physically harmed.”
She explained that the terrorists sometimes talked to her and asked questions, although she could not explain what kind of questions they asked her.
She said there were times when she thought she wouldn’t survive.
To overcome the uncertainty she felt, she said she would count the days until she would be free again to keep her spirits up.
On November 25, 2023, Shoshani and Hand were finally released during the second day of the ceasefire.
But Shoshani’s mother, who was to be released with her daughter as part of the ceasefire, was separated from her after the terrorists reportedly told her she would leave with her daughter.
Shoshani’s uncle Yair told DailyMail.com how angry he was that the terror group broke the agreement, calling it “a psychological game.”
Hamas’s choice, he said. “They want to show the world that they want to control the situation and do what they want and that’s what they wanted to do at the time.”
His sister – and Shoshani’s mother – were released four days later, on November 29.
He said his sister and niece appear “physically fine” since their release, but it is difficult to know how they are doing emotionally.
According to the Missing Hostages and Family Forum, 136 hostages remain in captivity.
These prisoners have the nationality of more than twenty countries, belong to five different religions and range in age from one year to 85 years.