'Savta’s return gives hope that all hostages will come back'

Tel Aviv rally for hostages draws 100,000 to mark ’50 days of hell’ since October 7

Demonstrating shortly before 2nd group freed from Gaza, speakers urge continued support for abductees’ families, more pressure on government to secure the release of everyone

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

  • A rally for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza on November 25, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. (Courtesy David Papish)
    A rally for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza on November 25, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. (Courtesy David Papish)
  • A demonstrator waves a sign calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza during a rally on November 25, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. (Courtesy Amir Yarchi)
    A demonstrator waves a sign calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza during a rally on November 25, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. (Courtesy Amir Yarchi)
  • A countdown clock for hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square during a demonstration on November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
    A countdown clock for hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square during a demonstration on November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
  • Signs calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza on November 25, 2023, near the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which has become center for families of hostages with outdoor plaza renamed Hostages Square. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
    Signs calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza on November 25, 2023, near the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which has become center for families of hostages with outdoor plaza renamed Hostages Square. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
  • A Tel Aviv rally calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza, November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
    A Tel Aviv rally calling for the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza, November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Some 100,000 people gathered Saturday night in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, near the Defense Ministry headquarters, at what is now known as Hostages Square, to mark “50 Days of Hell” since the Hamas massacres of October 7.

They called for the release of all hostages held in Gaza while awaiting the release of a second batch of abductees who were eventually freed as part of a temporary truce deal.

The crowd was full of Israelis of all ages, including youth groups in their khaki uniforms or the blue shirts of Hashomer Hatzair, and others in the black shirts of the Bring Them Home Now organization, wearing tags printed with the names of the hostages.

“Returning hostages is the biggest mitzvah there is,” said singer Ehud Banai. “With Hanukkah coming, we’ll light many candles during this dark time. Our hearts are broken until we see all of them home.”

The crowd sang softly with Banai as he started performing his song, “Ir Miklat” (City of Refuge).

The first speaker representing the Abducted and Missing Families Forum was Alon Adar, grandson of 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, who was released Friday afternoon as part of the first group of hostages freed in the framework of the Four-day Israel-Hamas truce deal, and is back home in Israel.

Adar was one of the first elderly hostages witnessed in a Hamas video, sitting stoically in a golf cart as she was driven from Kibbutz Nir Oz into Gaza on October 7.

Yaffa Adar sits as Hamas terrorists abduct her to Gaza from her home in Nir Oz, Israel on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot from a video X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“We’re joyous with my savta [grandmother] home but my cousin Tamir is still there,” said Adar, referring to Tamir Adar, who also lives in Nir Oz and left his house on the morning of October 7 to fight in the community’s security squad, but never returned.

“Savta’s return gives hope that all the hostages will come back,” said Adar. “But we know that we need to continue to fight this crazy thing, to come to the plaza and to tell the world the story behind each picture. Our families need you.”

Adar added that his 85-year-old grandmother had wanted to come to the rally herself, but the family thought it was a little too much just yet.

“She’s looking at us and is proud of me and all of us,” he said, to the crowd’s applause.

American-born Omer Neutra is presumed taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents of Omer Neutra, a lone soldier abducted on October 7, spoke about Omer’s upbringing in Long Island, New York for the last 22 years.

He was born one month after the US terror attacks of September 11, 2001, said his mother, Orna Neutra, and was raised in a Hebrew-speaking home by his Israeli parents. He decided to postpone his university studies and join the IDF after attending a pre-army preparatory program in Israel following high school.

“It wasn’t easy, but there’s such a support system for lone soldiers here,” said Orna Neutra, thanking the crowd in front of her and all of Israel for showing support for the plight of her son.

When the Neutras last spoke to Omer, it was Friday afternoon, October 6, and he told them it would be a quiet, calm Shabbat.

“We love you, Omer, and we will not rest until they bring you home now,” said the Neutras.

Other speakers included Rabbi Yaakov Medan, head of the Har Etzion Yeshiva, and Sheikh Muafak Tarif, head of the Druze community in Israel.

“It’s hard to describe how much the heart hurts,” said Tarif. “To see the children, women and children hurt — what kind of evil is this?”

A banner showing two Sharabi brothers, Yossi and Eli, abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, hanging in Hostages Square outside Tel Aviv Museum of Art on November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Sharon Sharabi, whose two brothers Eli Sharabi and Yossi Sharabi were abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri, thanked the crowd for supporting the families of the hostages and reminded everyone that his brother Eli’s wife and two daughters were killed on October 7.

“Eli will not have his family when he gets back,” said Sharon Sharabi. “He deserves to live, and for his mother to see him.”

There were also messages to the government from some speakers, including from Haim Jelin, former head of the Eshkol region who hails from Kibbutz Be’eri. Jelin thanked all the soldiers fighting in Gaza and the IDF forces who saved many Be’eri residents during the October 7 onslaught.

“They gave their lives so that we could leave that holocaust,” said Jelin. “We need to keep fighting, we aren’t going back to the same reality, it’s them [Hamas] or us. Never was there a war as just as this one. We’ll build a new country with the right values, and with a lot of love.”

The four children of Maya Goren, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz as their father was killed, said the expected release of a total of 50 hostages as part of the current deal “is a good start, but the government should do all it can to bring everyone home,” adding: “We’re not politicians; our job is to keep asking them to do it.”

Stencil signs made for hostages, as pictures of hostages play in loop on outer wall of Tel Aviv Museum of Art, overlooking Hostages Square, November 25, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Shoval Tsarfati, whose brother Ofir Tsarfati was abducted from the Supernova music festival, called on the government not to forget the adult male hostages, with all the hostages being released in the current deal being either women or children.

“Who decided that men are at the bottom of the list?” said Tsarfati. “The war cabinet shouldn’t allow this kind of selection. My brother is 27 and he’s my mother’s son. There are fathers and sons and brothers and grandfathers and they need to come home too.”

Tsarfati’s call not to forget the male hostages was made in the hour or so before the release of the 13 hostages released Saturday night, which included brother and sister Noam and Alma Or, but not their father, Dror Or. Their mother Yonat, was murdered on October 7.

Another father left in captivity is Tal Shoham, whose children, Yahel, 3 and Naveh, 8, were released Saturday night with their mother, Adi Shoham, and their grandmother, Shoshan Haran.

The final speaker was Abi Moses, whose family was decimated by a 1987 terrorist attack, killing his pregnant wife and one of his children. He called on the government to bring the hostages home, even if it meant releasing the terrorist who burned his family all those years ago.

“I want to release them now,” said Moses.

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