Families plead alongside bipartisan group of senators more action to release hostages held by Hamas

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It's been more than 100 days since Hamas attacked Southern Israel and took nearly 200 hostages captive. Now, the families of those victims are urging the U.S. and Israeli government to ramp up its efforts to bring them home.

A group of bipartisan senators led by Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin, D-Md., held an emotional press conference Wednesday with five families whose loved ones are still being held hostage by Hamas.

"I discussed with a few of the families some new strategy that we can implement. And I promise to try and do that," Schumer said Wednesday. "There are always new initiatives as there are right now. And we are making slow, slow, slow, but important progress. Not that that progress can't come fast enough. And let me be clear, if Hamas had any basic shred of humanity, they would have released the hostages already."

Schumer and other senators did not immediately expand on what those new strategies or initiatives would entail.

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Hamas is still holding 130 of the 240 hostages captive, including six Americans, whose conditions are unknown. Families lamented that Wednesday marked 103 days since the attack.

One of the victims' family members, Jon Polin, said during the press conference that his son, Hersh, was celebrating his 23rd birthday