Thousands at Hostages Square for Purim gathering colored by hopes for captives’ salvation

Thousands crowded into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday night for the Purim eve reading of the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the biblical heroine Queen Esther saving the Jewish people from extermination in what is now modern-day Iran, as they connected the plight of the Jews in the ancient city of Shushan to that of the hostages, held in the Gaza Strip by Iran-backed terrorists.

Nearby, hundreds of protesters gathered to support the families of the hostages on the sixth day of their encampment outside the IDF’s headquarters, where they are attempting to put pressure on those in charge to clinch a deal for the release of the remaining 59 hostages.

The Purim gathering at Hostages Square, which included Israelis from different communities, sectors and denominations, also called for parties to agree to a comprehensive deal to return the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip in one fell swoop, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main non-government organization representing families of hostages.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of freed hostage Romi Gonen, participated in the event.

The event was dedicated to the 59 hostages still in captivity, 58 of whom were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The Gaza terror group is also holding the body of fallen IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed during fighting in the Strip in 2014.

The forum said it was an “evening of unity, hope, and strength.”

“We pray that, as written in the Megillah, our situation will turn ‘from grief to joy, and from mourning to a day of celebration’,” the forum said, using the Hebrew name for the scroll from which the Book of Esther is traditionally read.

A complex three-phase ceasefire brought more than a year of fighting to a halt in January, and saw dozens of hostages released in small batches in exchange for Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian security prisoners. But the truce stalled after the first stage and hostage families have demanded the government reach a deal that sees all those still held captive freed together in a single move.

Taking up the cry for a comprehensive deal, hundreds of protesters joined the families of the hostages at their encampment on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, close to the IDF headquarters, where for the past six nights they have been calling for the release of the hostages.

Banging drums and holding larger-than-life cutouts of the hostages’ faces, the protesters descended onto the busy Tel Aviv street, temporarily blocking traffic as they did.

“All of them! All of them, all of them, all of them!” the protesters chanted. “Why are they still in Gaza?!

Looking to ramp up the pressure on all parties working to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas, several families of the hostages sent a letter to US President Donald Trump asking for his help, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Friday.

Lishi Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran; Liran Berman, the older brother of twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman; Dalia Kushner, sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn and released hostage Iair Horn; Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, and Einav Zangauker penned the missive.

“For more than a year and a half the Israeli government has been playing with the lives of our loved ones,” they wrote. “Assurances were given and violated. Hopes were given and trampled on. While the prime minister and his government members evade, hide, and bide their time, our hostages are being severely tortured, and we saw the results of the terrible abuse when they returned to us in coffins or emaciated and tortured.”

Trump, who last week met with a group of freed hostages in the Oval Office, has reportedly been moved by the condition of some hostages who returned after months of being starved and abused by their captors.

Families of some hostages, as well as some of those who have been released, have increasingly extolled Trump as their hope and savior, while accusing the government of being ineffective, and bogged down in a coalition quagmire.

“When there is no one left to rely on we turn to you, President Donald Trump,” they implored. You are the only person who can now get involved and bring an end to this nightmare.”

The families accused the government of “abandoning the lives of our sons and daughters out of stubborn insistence on positions that have no relation to a security threat” and of saying one thing to them behind close doors and “telling a completely different story to the public.”

“If it doesn’t act immediately to return all the living hostages — we will reveal to the people everything that they said to us. All the broken promises.”

Far-right elements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition oppose extending the ceasefire deal beyond its first phase, which ended late last month, insisting instead that the war continue until the total destruction of Hamas. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has asserted that leaving Hamas in Gaza is a major security threat to the country, has threatened to pull his Religious Zionism party from the government, removing its parliamentary majority, if his demand to continue fighting is not met.

‘I am Omer Shev Tov, and I am free!’

Among the hostages released in the first phase of the truce deal was 22-year-old Omer Shem Tov from Herzliya, who on Thursday night took down a banner calling for his release that had been displayed in his hometown since his abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.

Shem Tov, who was released on February 22, after 505 days in captivity, was joined at the ceremony by siblings Maya and Itay Regev, who were freed from captivity during a weeklong truce in November 2023 after they were snatched alongside Shem Tov, and whose names were emblazoned on the banner alongside his.

“The last time I stood on a stage was the Hamas stage, so forgive me if I’m excited about this occasion,” Shem Tov said with a broad smile, to laughter from the crowd gathered around him at the so-called “Dancers Roundabout” in Herzliya.

“If anyone wants a kiss on the head, they can come over here,” he added, referring to the moment in his release when he was directed to kiss two of the masked Hamas gunmen on the top of their heads.

His mother took him up on the offer, and he kissed her forehead.

“I am Omer Shev Tov, and I am free!” he declared to applause.

As the mood turned serious, he recalled the events of his abduction and conditions in Gaza: “I was abducted on October 7 and held hostage for 505 days,” he said. “I didn’t lose hope for a moment. I always believed that I would come home, even though there were difficult moments.

He said that after hostage Itay Regev was released in November 2023, his captors transferred him to a 40-meter tunnel where he was held alone, “with little food and no light,” for 50 days.

On the 50th day in the pitch-black tunnel, Shem Tov said he “prayed to God to get me out of there, because I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“After five minutes, my captor arrived, and told me I was being moved to a different tunnel,” he said.

עומר שם טוב בהצהרה: "אני חופשי, לרגע לא איבדתי תקווה. עכשיו אני פה בשביל מי שנשארו מאחור – חייבים להחזיר את כולם"https://t.co/DXAo11pmXn@danzilb pic.twitter.com/oCUAPGWs8f

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) March 13, 2025

He said that while alone in captivity, he would “imagine laying my head on my mother’s lap. I imagined us sitting in the living room watching a movie.”

“The daydream became a reality,” he said.

Shem Tov was one of 30 hostages released since the ceasefire and hostage release deal came into effect in January.  Of those released, there were 20 Israeli civilians, five female IDF soldiers and five Thai nationals. Hamas also returned the bodies of eight slain hostages.

The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.

Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.

The US-mediated hostage deal stalled at the end of its first phase in late February amid mutual accusations of violations by Israel and Hamas.

In an attempt to get the process back on track, US special envoy Steve Witkoff was said on Thursday to have presented Israel and Hamas with a new outline to extend the ceasefire by several weeks in exchange for the release of five living and 10 dead hostages.

The reports drew concern from the families of the hostages, who said the deal, if agreed upon, would leave many of their loved ones in captivity for a “long and undetermined length of time.”