Every Sunday morning, New Yorkers gather in Central Park to run and march demanding that the hostages be returned home.

July 7 was a particularly poignant gathering, as it marked nine months since the October 7 attack by Hamas, and nine months that the 120 remaining hostages have been held captive in Gaza. Twelve of the hostages who have been held captive for nine months are women—a particularly cruel milestone.

The July 7 gathering was billed as a “Special Run/March” for 22-year-old hostage Omer Neutra, a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen from Plainview, Long Island.

Speaking to the hundreds who attended the run, Omer’s mother Orna reflected on the past three-quarters of a year: “Nine months waking up every morning, praying that Omer, too, is still waking up every morning. That he is strong, that he is surviving, and is waiting to be rescued. I pray for us both, as any mother prays for her child from the moment of inception.”

Orna recalled the last conversation that she had with her son, a tank commander in the IDF, on October 6 while he was at his post: “Hi Ima… My whole team is here. I’m looking forward to a relaxing Shabbat, chag. And some team-building… The border is quiet.” To which Orna responded, “That’s good Omer, we’ll talk tomorrow then. Love you.”

Noting that Omer was born in Manhattan a month after 9/11, Orna reflected on the chilling similarity between the posters of the missing that filled the New York City streets to the posters she sees of Omer now. “In my worst dreams, I couldn’t imagine the scenario of what he’s living through now, for nine months, with no sign of life, his eyes and smile, looking at me, from posters everywhere.”

Orna described her son as a sports-loving young man and “an avid New York Knicks fan, whether they are winning or they are losing. He knows all the stats and personal biographies of the players. I used to tease him about there not being enough space in his head for other things. Now I hope all these stats give him comfort.”

She also described Omer as “passionate about Israel and his Judaism and about making an impact, and that is what drove him to take positions in his youth group USY and eventually led to his decision to serve in the IDF and become an officer.”

Omer’s father, Ronen, also spoke, addressing the hostage deal which was on the table as of press time. “Nine months in, today, and there is a revised proposal for hostage release on the table. This may be the last opportunity to bring you, Omer, and all of the other hostages back home alive.”

As to our ongoing fight to bring the hostages home, Ronen said: “We are the voices of those that don’t have voices. Omer, if you could see the amount of support here today, and all throughout these long, long months, it would give you strength as it gives us.

“Nine months today and we are not planning on stopping or giving up. We fight for you as you and your team on the border fought to defend Israel and all of us, Israel, the Jewish community, and anyone who cares about the values of freedom, democracy and independence.”

Eylon Levy, the former Israeli government spokesperson who is continuing to advocate for the Jewish people as co-founder of the Israeli Citizen Spokesperson’s Office, also spoke. He stated: “It has been nine months since the worst moment of our lives and for the hostage families like the brave Neutras standing here, nine months of the worst moment of their lives… Nine months that you have been coming out in force in New York City in Central Park, come rain or come shine to demand ‘bring them home now.’

“If we want to mobilize a genuine mass movement for what is a true global humanitarian emergency, we need pressure on Hamas, and on its backers—Qatar, Turkey and Iran, to ‘let them go now.’ [This is] the demand that you need to make on Hamas through your government, to tell the White House, to tell your government, ‘You start acting like a superpower now, you start acting like the world’s leading power and using all available leverage that you have on Hamas and its backers to let them go because it isn’t happening yet and it has to start, because nine months is far, far too long.”

Judith Falk is the creator of the Upper West Side Shtetl Facebook Group. You can follow her on instagram @upperwestsideshtetl. She is a lawyer by day and a former legal reporter.