Hostages Square celebration dampened by downpour: ‘Washing away the badness’

By Ben Sales

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9 October 2025, 8:28 am Edit

Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of Israel

People shelter from the rain in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square on October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)

A small crowd is clustering under tents and awnings as a downpour drenches Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, sending hostage relatives and supporters scrambling for shelter.

Much of the square is empty as those gathered wait out the rain, one of the first showers of the season.

Some hold large yellow umbrellas reading “Now!” in reference to returning the hostages. A woman staffing a table with merchandise, where dozens are taking shelter, says there are no more umbrellas for sale.

“I feel it’s washing away the badness,” Rachel Sinai, who came here from Holon, says of the rain. “Everything will be clean here.”