WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — More than 100 people gathered at a synagogue in West Hartford Thursday night to mourn the loss of an Israeli family taken by Hamas.
At the front of Emmanuel Synagogue was a photo of an 84-year-old journalist and two young children, but no picture of their mother. Jewish leaders say Hamas was supposed to return the mother’s body on Thursday for burial, but there was a stranger in the coffin.
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“They put in the coffin propaganda material, and then ultimately to add insult upon insult to injury, they didn’t return the right body,” Rabbi Tuvia Brander of Young Israel in West Hartford said.
The congregation was encouraged to sit near one another and comfort each other throughout the night and the upcoming days.
“It has been a hard 500 days for the Jewish community, and events like this bring us together and remind us that we are not alone,” Ari Schaffer of Greater Hartford for Israel said.
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