Hostage families block Defense Ministry entrance for 240 seconds every hour as reminder of those in Gaza
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

A small crowd stands outside the main entrance to the Defense Ministry on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road where families of the hostages set up tents on Saturday night and stand throughout most hours of the day under the shadow of the Azrieli buildings.
At 2:29, several walk into the access road used by cars leaving the Defense Ministry and stand, blocking the cars that are trying to exit the compound.
Under the tent, Nadav Rudeif, whose father, Lior Rudeif, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, briefly explains that they block traffic every hour at the 29th minute, remembering the Hamas attacks that began at 6:29 a.m. on October 7. They block traffic for 240 seconds, marking the number of hostages initially taken by Hamas terrorists on that day.
At that moment, the sister of hostage Yagev Buchshtav speaks about her big brother, a musician who works in sound and builds his own instruments.

She speaks about Yagev and his wife Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, who was freed during the temporary ceasefire, and their five cats and five dogs, the last of which was finally found after it wandered around their community of Kibbutz Nirim for weeks.
Four minutes later, she stops speaking at a nod from Rudeif, and those blocking the road return to the sidewalk as a line of cars exit onto Begin Road, one of Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfares.
“This location helps because we stand here, at the Defense Ministry, where generals and soldiers see us and the security guards already know us,” says Rudeif, adding that he spends about 16 hours a day there.
“The public is returning to regular life and the news has become a kind of white noise for them,” says Rudeif.
“It’s been 74 days and I don’t blame anyone but we can’t let the hostages become part of the white noise.”
“We’re not against you,” says Yagev Buchshtav’s sister, “but we need you to be courageous and bring them home.”