Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman is among the thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators chanting ‘bring them home’ at a hostage remembrance event in London‘s Hyde Park.
Hundreds of Israeli flags can be seen, with supporters also waving placards with the faces of the hostages still being held by Hamas, and messages reading ‘bring them home’.
The thousands of people gathered in London’s Hyde Park have begun to chant ‘bring them home’ in reference to the 101 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas a year after the October 7 attacks.
Speaking at the October 7 event in Hyde Park, Oberman said ‘we must not forget our humanity’, adding it was ‘heartening’ to see so many people in attendance.
She told the PA news agency: ‘I’m here today because it’s about memorial and remembrance.
Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman (pictured) is among the thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators chanting ‘bring them home’ at a hostage remembrance event in London ‘s Hyde Park
Hundreds of Israeli flags can be seen, with supporters also waving placards with the faces of the hostages still being held by Hamas
‘It’s very heartening (to see so many people). I think we needed it for our community and our allies’, Oberman said
‘It’s about remembering the terrorist attack on October 7. It’s about remembering our dead and it’s about remembering our hostages, some of whom are still alive and who we desperately want to bring home.
‘It’s very heartening (to see so many people). I think we needed it for our community and our allies.
‘We’ve got amazing allies who have understood the trauma of this year. And it means the world that we’ve come together as a community, as a people who are suffering loss. It means a lot that we are here to remember those who have fallen and those we really want to get back.
‘My message today is of community. Of standing together of remembering our humanity – humanity for everyone, but also especially today, remembering those who were massacred on October 7 and the hostages who are still in captivity who we desperately need to bring back.
‘We must not forget humanity. Humanity for everyone who is suffering. That is the Jewish way.’
Crowds gather at Hyde Park as UK Jewish groups mark the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on October 06, 2024
Mandy Damari, mother of hostage Emily Damari, speaking at the Remembering October 7 memorial event in Hyde Park
The remembrance event in London comes after another day of violence in the Middle East.
An Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early Sunday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region.
Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza a year after the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began.
Israel has also vowed to strike Iran itself after Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have already joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.
A stabbing and shooting attack at the central bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba left one person dead and 10 others wounded, according to first responders.
Police did not identify the assailant but said they were treating it as a terror attack.