London Marathon runners dedicate races to the 59 remaining Gaza hostages
Sporting yellow caps and images of captives pinned to their running gear, project volunteers show solidarity with hostages and their families
During the annual London Marathon on Sunday, 59 runners donned yellow hats and pinned photographs of the 59 remaining Gaza hostages to their shirts, taking the 26.2-mile run as an opportunity to spread awareness about their plight after 570 days in captivity.
Each of the 59 runners who volunteered for the project was assigned a hostage to whom their run was dedicated.
Each was given a yellow hat emblazoned with the name of the hostage they were running for, which they donned for the race along with “Bring them Home Now” shirts, yellow ribbon patches, and other signs and symbols intended to show solidarity with the hostages and their families.
The show of support for the hostages continued off the race route as well, with the friends and families of the runners holding up signs calling for the hostages to be released as they cheered on their loved ones.
On one leg of the route, a group of supporters, one waving an Israeli flag and another draped in one, held up a large yellow banner reading “Bring the 59 hostages back home now!”
The project, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, was a “powerful demonstration of solidarity.”
“The runners’ yellow hats and ribbons created a visible stream of hope through London’s streets, catching the attention of the thousands of spectators and reminding the world to not give up the fight for the hostages as they remain in Hamas captivity,” the forum said.
Some marathoners took up the hostages’ cause independent of the forum’s initiative, like British Jewish fitness influencer Yoel Levy, who dressed up as Batman to honor the slain members of the Bibas family.
Batman was the beloved superhero of Ariel Bibas, a four-year-old murdered in Hamas captivity alongside his baby brother, Kfir, and mother Shiri. Their bodies were returned to Israel in February.
Levy told UK-based outlet Jewish News ahead of the run that he aimed “to represent the British Jews and showcase that we care, and we care massively about Israel.”
Levy also took part in the Jerusalem Marathon earlier in April, completing the run in four hours and 26 minutes, an experience he described as “amazing” to the news site.
A group of spectators at the London Marathon chant ‘Am Israel Chai,’ (‘The people of Israel live’) while holding a banner calling for the return of hostages, April 27, 2025. (The Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
While the marathon passed without any major incidents, two people were arrested after they breached the crowd control barriers next to Tower Bridge, walked into the middle of the road and began throwing handfuls of red powder into the air.
“The UK Labour government is complicit in enabling a genocide in Palestine!” one of the protesters yelled, as marathon staff pushed them out of the way of the fast-approaching runners. “We continue to provide arms to Israel, the genocidal state of Israel!”
RACE AGAINST TIME TO SAVE GAZA: YOUTH DEMAND SUPPORTERS DISRUPT LONDON MARATHON
At 10:30am, Willow and Cristy jumped the barriers at Tower Bridge and sat down in front of the men's elite race at the London Marathon, wearing 'Stop Arming Israel' t-shirts.
Gaza is running out of… pic.twitter.com/LxEVhGI29g
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) April 27, 2025
The two protesters were later identified as Willow Holland, 18, and Cristy North, 38. Both were members of the Youth Demand activist group and were wearing shirts reading “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel!”
As of early Monday morning, both Holland and North remained in police custody, the Haaretz daily said.
The Times of Israel Community.