It’s been nearly six weeks that families of more than 200 hostages being held inside Gaza by Hamas have waited for answers.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden expressed optimism a deal for their release could happen soon.

“I’ve been talking with the people involved every single day,” he said at the White House. “I believe it’s going to happen. But I don’t want to get into detail.”

But the reality is, the communication with the families about their loved ones has been infrequent, leaving them wondering about the condition of the hostages, and if some are even alive.

Itay and Merav Raviv said it’s strange walking the streets of New York. The sounds of sirens they are used to hearing in Israel have been replaced by the sound of traffic.

“It is weird that life continues and goes on throughout the world but Israel it’s not the same,” Itay said.

For two weeks the mother and son left Israel, traveling around the world to share what has happened to four of their relatives: Merav’s uncle Abraham, aunt Rute, cousin Keren and cousin Ohad, who celebrated his 9th birthday in captivity.

They were all kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7. Itay and Merav don’t know what exactly happened on that day but they have videos of the aftermath of Hamas’s destruction of a home owned by Merav’s cousin, who was murdered.

The family lived in a kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border.

“Nobody knows if they are alive or not. If they are getting any treatment. Any medical, any medicine. Any food. Any water. Nobody knows their conditions,” Itay said. “Nothing.”

But Itay and Merav said they had to do something. So they’ve spent two weeks speaking to lawmakers in Spain, Canada and the United States asking for their help.  

They met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and House Speaker Mike Johnson, among others.

“The 241 people that are held in Hamas now in Gaza to bring them back home,” Merav said. “This is my mission and this is what I’m doing.”

They were in New York for 48 hours and then back to Israel to keep working from there.

Meanwhile, in Hell’s Kitchen, Moshe Lavi would do anything to be back home.

“It’s hard to sleep,” he said.

His mind is always back in Israel as he scrolls through photos of his family.

He stops at one that is haunting. A photo of his sister, Leshi, her two young children, and his brother-in-law, Omri, held captive in their kibbutz on Oct. 7.

The way he got the image? It had been released by Hamas on social media.

After physically and psychologically torturing them, Leshi and her children were released by Hamas. But Omri was taken away.

“[[My two-year-old niece]] was trying to run towards him, shouting not to take him,” Moshe said, recalling what his sister has since shared with him. “They were threatening to put her down if she continues. They took the car of one of the families and drove away.”

Moshe is able to share many details about what happened because his sister is alive. He also knows there were other people Hamas took with Omri.  

“Two American ladies,” Moshe said.

He said he’s referring to Judith and Natalie Raanan, two of only four hostages released by Hamas.

“It did give us hope to see,” he said of their release, knowing Omri had been with them.

But he hasn’t heard anything about Omri, other than the Israeli government, confirming he was still alive as of early November.

“It’s a balance between realism and optimism,” he said. “And I try to stay an optimist.”

He wants to go back to Israel, but his family asked that he stay here to advocate for them at places like the United Nations.

“It’s hard. Being away from family,” he said. “Not being able to support them physically when I’m there even if I’m emotionally there for them.”

It’s been nearly six long weeks for people like Moshe, Itay and Merav.

“We have to have hope in order to continue doing whatever we can for them,” Itay said.

And they all said they’ll keep sharing their stories, wherever they are, until the people in their family come home.