CEDAR PARK, Texas — Grief-stricken and devastated but determined is how Ariella, an Israeli citizen living in Austin, describes the sentiments of her community. She has asked KVUE to refrain from using her last name.
With two brothers fighting in Israel on reserve duty, she is part of an Israeli group of women who consider it their mission to fight for a cause: raising awareness of hostages taken by Hamas.
"These posters have been hung up anywhere ... and everywhere in the public eye. You can look it up. It's worldwide. It's spread like wildfire," Ariella said.
They have joined a global campaign called Bring Them Home, which demands hostages be returned. They have printed posters with pictures of those missing and hung them in public places like parks, parking lots and gas stations all over Central Texas cities like Round Rock, Cedar Park and Austin.
"To see these kind of acts of just pure hate, you can't stay indifferent to this kind of thing," Ariella said. "You meet an Israeli person, you'll meet a broken person."
Some of the posters bear the faces and names of Israelis with ties to Central Texans – like Aviv Asher, her sister, Raz, and their mother, Doron, who are related to Leander resident Dori Roberts, who discovered they were captured through TikTok.
Gal is another Israeli who lives in Cedar Park who also asked KVUE not to use her last name. She made it clear her home may be in Texas but another part of her heart will keep hurting for Israel.
"We will never, ever really recover from this. And it's still ongoing, and these people are still alive and they need to come home now," Gal said.
As of Tuesday evening, the Israeli military has said at least 199 hostages were taken into Gaza while Hamas has said it was holding 200 to 250 hostages including foreigners.