Tel Aviv, Dec 14 (IANS): New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said that Hamas has to be destroyed.

Referring to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the Mayor in a letter to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said: “The Hamas organization has to be destroyed. A situation where those responsible for this terrible crime have not yet been brought to justice is a failure."

The Hostages and Missing families Forum in a statement said that the New York Mayor hosted the families of the hostages at his home in New York and the occasion was marked by the lighting of the sixth Hanukkah candle.

The statement said that the families lit the Hanukkah menorah together with the Mayor.

The families of the hostages thanked the Mayor for the support of President Joe Biden and the US to Israel and asked him to continue the suppport to increase American pressure on Qatar and Egypt to release the hostages from Gaza.

Adams said, "We are at a defining moment, a moment when we understand the importance of light and what it symbolizes, especially after the terrible events of October 7. We want to be clear in our call: Hamas must be destroyed."

"I stand with the families of the hostages who came to New York to express the demand to bring their loved ones home now. It is a failure that those responsible for these heinous crimes are not brought to justice when there are hostages in Gaza while the networks are filled with hate," he added.