Hundreds gather at Tel Aviv Museum of Art for display of solidarity with hostages

Approximately 300 people are gathered in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for a display of solidarity with the Israelis held hostage in Gaza and their families.

The event is a daily occurrence but attendance is significantly higher today in anticipation of the scheduled release of 13 of about 240 people who are presumed to be held hostage.

“Until they’re here, I don’t buy it,” says Keren Gonen, a 30-year-old nurse whose sister, Romi, is believed to be in Gaza. “I’m cautiously optimistic but am keeping back any emotion.” Gonen is a regular at the square “which is my home now,” she tells The Times of Israel.

Several stalls with volunteers offer activities for the visitors, including graffiti art with messages about the abducted. One of them reads “16:00,” a sign of the palpable sense of anticipation of the release. Organizers have placed a giant screen at the square, where they intend to livestream news footage of the release.

“Happiness over the expected release of the 13 hostages is mixing with grief over the ones still captive,” says Ortal Shimon-Raz, a psychologist who volunteers regularly at the square, which on October 24 was renamed by the municipality the Square for the Hostages and Missing. Shimon-Raz, 41, is part of team of volunteers wearing blue shirt emblazoned with the words “Emotional First Aid.”

Other displays include an empty Shabbat dinner table with 240 seats, and 240 yellow plastic chairs tethered together with a coarse sisal rope.