Jewish community, local organizations unite in Aventura to celebrate return of hostages, mourn those lost during 2 year war

It was an evening of hope and honor in Aventura as families came together to celebrate the release of all living hostages being held by Hamas earlier this week and to honor the memory of those lost Those who attended wore white and blue to the somber but celebratory event at the Waterways Shoppes on Thursday night God bless the USA God bless the City of Aventura and God bless Israel commented Aventura Mayor Howard Weinberg Local organizations also participated in the district event to praise the homecoming of the hostages What a relief what a relief that we can celebrate after two years of national torture reported Miri Ketayi Regional Director of Israel American Council South Florida Natalie Kaswan with Loving Moms United helped organize the event coined They Are Home Now She called it a night to feel dance celebrate and honor each and every hostage We need to mourn but at the same time we need to celebrate stated Kaswan We are grateful for each one of them We have prayed for them We know them as family because we are a big family As those in Aventura rejoiced they leaned on one another for sponsorship too as they say they re still awaiting the returns of the bodies of nearly more deceased hostages And we are still waiting for the ones that are dead because each body for us is sacred declared Kaswan News cameras captured eventgoers dancing and enjoying themselves The Israeli Consul of Miami also attended the emotional ceremony Deputy Consul General of Israel Ayellet Black watched her locality band together in a long-awaited moment of celebration We all beat with one heart and the tragedy that happened in Israel affected everyone here so deeply she reported it s incredible It s hard to put into words what this feels like after two long years Throughout the event attendees sang danced laughed and cried as a sign of relief after two very long years Still they say they remember the deceased hostages that remain in Gaza The Israeli flag blew proudly in the wind with pictures of deceased hostages rooted to the bottom of it We remember those who are still in Gaza and we remember them and we will fight them alive or not disclosed Ketayi As of Thursday night a handful of bodies of the deceased hostages have returned but several more remain as part of the ceasefire agreement