In Jerusalem, hostages’ families urge public to fast for 500 minutes to mark 500 days of captivity

Family members of hostages and dozens of supporters begin marking the 500th day of their loved ones’ captivity outside the Hostages and Missing Families Forum tent on Azza Street in Jerusalem, plan to march later to the Knesset,

Using words recited on Jewish fast days — “Please save us!” — Levi Ben-Baruch, uncle of hostage Edan Alexander, wrapped in his prayer shawl and wearing tefillin, calls for the return of all the hostages.

“We will fast 500 minutes for the captives,” he says.

Maccabit Meyer, aunt of hostages Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, at an event marking 500 days since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, on Azza Street in Jerusalem, February 17, 2025. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

“They’ve already been fasting for 500 days,” he says, asking the nation to fast with the families, to pray as one soul, as one heart.

“We want to know when they are all coming home,” says Ben Baruch, whose nephew, Alexander, is a soldier and not on the list of 33 hostages slated to come home in the ongoing first phase of the deal.

Maccabit Meyer, aunt of hostages Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, says that day 500 isn’t different than any of the other days.

“I want Ziv and Gali to be held in the hug of their mother Talia,” she says, calling on the nation to come out and join their cry.