On Tuesday night, second gentleman Doug Emhoff joined hundreds in D.C.’s Jewish community at Adas Israel Congregation in Northwest D.C. for a prayer vigil in honor of the Israeli hostages killed over the weekend.
Israeli forces said the six Israeli hostages were killed in Gaza by Hamas. The victims were identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.
The military said the six were killed shortly before Israeli forces were to rescue them and that the bodies were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The news sparked calls for mass protests by families of the hostages who said they could have been returned alive in a cease-fire deal.
“Carmel should have come home,” Carmel Gat’s cousin, LeElle Slifer, said. “Hamas was supposed to release her in November.”
Slifer was among many who spoke at the vigil, demanding a cease-fire and the release of remaining hostages.
“Shout their stories to the world and demand Hamas release them,” Slifer said. “We all failed Carmel, but like the guardian angel she always was, she wouldn’t want us to fail the others. Keep watching over us Carmely.”
Watch the full vigil below, streamed by WTOP’s partners at 7News:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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