Israel's Ambassador to UN to hold special event

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gilad Erdan and the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN will hold a special event at the UN today featuring families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.

The event will begin at 1:15 p.m. (US local time) before the Security Council is scheduled to meet. The ambassadors of the Security Council member states, as well as other ambassadors and senior diplomats have been invited to the event.

Ambassador Erdan and the families will speak. The event will conclude with HaTikva, Israel's national anthem, performed by Noa Kirel.

Ambassador Erdan said, "The event is intended to convey a clear message to the Security Council: the only humanitarian situation the Council must discuss now is the humanitarian situation of our kidnapped citizens who are being held in horrific violation of international law. The Nazi organization Hamas is solely responsible for the situation in Gaza, and before any discussion of the situation in the Strip, the Security Council must back Israel's right to crush Hamas's terrorist infrastructure and demand that it release all the hostages."

The event will take place in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Chamber.

Meanwhile, massive images of Israeli hostages, including babies, elderly men and women were projected at the side of the UN headquarters in New York, demanding the release of the hostages in Gaza.

The images of the hostages projected at the UN headquarters, by a group of Israelis living in the US, included 4-year-old Ariel, and 85-year-old Yaffa among others. A message projected at the UN headquarters read, "Abducting Israeli civilians is a crime against humanity," "Hamas is ISIS," and "Bring them home now."

The Command Centre in the US for the families of the hostages called for the release of all hostages, whose captivity they noted is against international law.

It demanded for immediate facilitation of a humanitarian corridor to provide medicine and essential provisions. In addition, the Command Centre called for the intervention of world leaders, particularly the Arab World. Earlier on Thursday, locals held a demonstration in Tel Aviv and urged the Israeli government to exchange hostages/prisoners with the terrorist group Hamas. The demonstrators have called on the Israeli government to talk to Hamas and ensure that the women and children who are held captive are released. They used placards and raised slogans to raise the demands.

"The government of Israel should talk to Hamas to ensure that the women, children and civilians who have been taken hostage should be released," a local protesting in Tel Aviv amid Hamas attack on Israel told ANI.

Another protesting local said that the government should pull out all stops to make sure the kidnapped hostages are released.

As the Israel-Hamas conflict entered the seventh day, the Israel Defence Forces called for an immediate evacuation of Gaza. In a statement, the IDF said that all civilians of Gaza City must move from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that the death toll from the Hamas terror attacks on Israel has jumped to 1,300 and more than 3000 have been injured.