Hostage sit-in grows outside Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem

Hundreds of silent protesters are joining a Shift 101 sit-in rally, outside the Hostages Families tent on Jerusalem’s Azza Road, near the prime minister’s official, though unused, residence.

Many walked to the area from the Knesset compound, where anti-government protests are being held, and are joined by others, wearing white and sitting silently in the street, except when someone gets up to speak.

Adina Bar Shalom, a political activist and daughter of the late Shas party founder and figurehead Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, tells the group that there is nothing more holy than saving lives, and that anyone who saves a life is as if they have saved an entire world.

“Our world without the hostages is not complete,” says Bar Shalom, who says they all must be brought home in one release.

Niva Wenkert, mother of released hostage Omer Wenkert, who sat at many Shift 101 rallies when her son was still held hostage, tells the gathering that she still has 59 family members held hostage in Gaza.

Other protesters keep joining the demonstration, some arriving with kids from school, others coming from work.

The entire area of Azza Road, from the prime minister’s private residence and all roads leading to the area , is closed off by police blockades.