Elation mixed with a fair amount of anxiety gripped the hearts of a dedicated group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Central Park on Sunday. They awaited what they hoped would be the imminent return of all hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of marchers gathered Sunday morning for their weekly walk around the Central Park reservoir, hoping this tradition would conclude with the expected return of the last 20 hostages on Monday morning.

“It’s been two years every single Sunday since,” said Jamie Warfield, 30, who has attended about four or five of the weekly marches. “This will hopefully be the last one. … I feel like every other time, it was, ‘Bring them home now!’ Whereas this is the first time ever, we said, ‘They’re coming home!’ So that was really beautiful.”

She added, “You could tell everyone was on eggshells. ‘Some said I hope I don’t see you next Sunday.’”

The march attracted more participants than usual, according to attendees, because it happened just a few days after the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed around 1,200 people and led to an ongoing Israeli offensive that has resulted in more than 67,000 Palestinian deaths.

“The energy was so different because we were like, ‘Bring them home, we hope the war’s going to end, seal the deal’,” said Debbie Ergas, 41. “The Jewish community here, most of us want a two-state solution. We want to live in peace.”

She added, “Here in New York we have to be able to coexist.”

Carrying an Israeli flag adorned with pictures of the hostages, Dr. Rebecca Mannis, 61, from Manhattan described the march as an opportunity to “pray with your feet.”

“Most Sundays I’ve been here as well to support Israel, to pray, and to be among others who are pleading for the release of the hostages and also to think about our role as Jewish New Yorkers and Zionists in the greater New York community,” Mannis said.

The crowd also heard from a cousin of two hostages, twins Gali and Ziv Berman, who are expected to be freed.

“She was just very thankful to what we’ve been doing here the last two years,” said marcher Orit Huberman, describing the cousin’s remarks.

Huberman helps make the banners and flags for the weekly march.

“Over the past two years, we had parents of hostages … we had brothers, people who had been coming to advocate for the families,” she said. “There are 48 hostages. Twenty are alive, are coming, but the rest, we’re not sure that they’re going to find all the bodies, so we are waiting for every single one to come.”

Dana Ergas, 27, called the atmosphere at Sunday’s march “a little bit tense.”

“Until I see them all back home, I will not feel calm about it,” she said.

The planned release of the hostages comes as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, as Palestinians awaited a long-promised surge of humanitarian aid deliveries to ease the famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and its ground offensive.

Israel spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said the hostages will likely be driven to a military base to reunite with their families or to a hospital if needed. After that, Israel expects to release about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and receive the remains of 28 hostages believed to be dead.

“This could have happened a long time ago, but the public is so used to talking only about what Israel does and forgetting that Hamas also had agency,” said marcher Tal Siegel, 49. “They could have just released them a long time ago. … If it’s not going to happen, the fighting can resume. And both sides are looking for reasons.”

She added, “A lot of good people with good intentions wanting to help the Palestinians, they did not realize that if they pressure Hamas as well, this could have happened a long time ago.”

Siegel says every week the group reads the names of the hostages, including those who are dead.

“Today was different because we were all happy. This is the first time we were all happy,” he said. “We can breathe.”

With News Wire Services

Originally Published: October 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM EDT