Hostage families kick-off last day of ‘unity march’ to Jerusalem

Family members of those held captive by Hamas are on their final day of leading a “unity march for the return of the hostages,” which began on Wednesday in Kibbutz Re’im and will conclude in Jerusalem’s Paris Square.

Outside a mall in Mevaseret Zion, 6,000 people are gathered to hear remarks from the town mayor, Yoram Shimon, as well as former Knesset speaker and Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy, a town resident.

“I am ashamed that we haven’t found an aim, that we still haven’t found an answer,” says Levy. “Israeli society will never forgive itself if the hostages don’t return home.”

Mickey Levy speaks to marchers from stage outside Mevaseret Zion mall on last day of hostage families’ unity march to Jerusalem on March 2, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Sixty-three-year-old Nir Yitzhak resident Clara Merman, who was freed from Hamas captivity, along with other freed hostages Fernando Merman, Luis Herr and Gabriella Leimberg, are on stage to give the relatives of hostages the “courage to continue.”

“We were there and the danger in captivity is imminent… The body and the mind still hurt, we will continue to march together with all the people until all [the hostages] return,” Merman says.