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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 538

Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Anti-government protesters rally at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, March 22, 2025. (Amir Goldstein / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
March 23, 2025, 3:56 am
Over 100,000 nationwide protest renewed Gaza fighting, Shin Bet chief’s ouster
Rallies much larger than in recent weeks; opposition leaders warn of national strike if gov’t defies High Court; ex-hostage says she felt abandoned when fighting resumed last time
By Noam Lehmann, Jessica Steinberg and Sam Sokol
Israelis attend a rally to demand the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
March 22, 2025, 5:32 pm
Weekend protests expected to draw masses amid renewed fighting, Shin Bet chief’s ouster
Families Forum plans ‘rage rally’ at Hostages Square to demand Israel return to negotiating table; Golan, Lapid to address earlier anti-government protest at Habima
By ToI Staff
Israelis attend a rally demanding a deal to bring hostages home from Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
March 21, 2025, 11:07 pm
‘Israel choosing endless war’: 40 freed hostages demand end to fighting, return to talks
Also signed by 250 family members of hostages, letter calls renewed fighting in Gaza Strip a ‘criminal policy’ that risks lives of living hostages, disappearing the fallen
By ToI Staff
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza and supporters hold a press statement outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 18, 2025. (Yonatan SIndel/Flash90)
March 20, 2025, 3:28 pm
Hostages’ families fume as meeting on Gaza delayed so cabinet can vote on Bar’s ouster
Relatives of captives say PM, focused on firing Shin Bet chief, is ignoring their demands for ‘urgent’ meeting, as renewed fighting sparks fear for captives’ lives
By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid
Carmit Palty Katzir, whose brother Elad Katzir was killed in captivity in Gaza, speaks at the Knesset on March 18, 2025 (Courtesy)
March 18, 2025, 12:32 pm
Hostage families warn resumption of hostilities in Gaza ‘killing the captives’
Families Forum demands meeting with Netanyahu, urges public to protest outside his office as he confers with security chiefs; smaller, hardline Tikva Forum welcomes renewed strikes
By ToI Staff
Protesters call for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (Flash90)
March 16, 2025, 12:32 am
‘Not in trickles, nor 50-day deals’: At rally, ex-hostage calls for release of all captives
Brother of slain hostage says Israelis will put Netanyahu ‘on trial for crimes against the nation of Israel,’ as nearby, anti-government protests resume in full force
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Crowds gather at the Begin Gate of the IDF's Kirya HQ in Tel Aviv calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. (Dana Reany / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
March 15, 2025, 2:57 pm
Saturday hostage rallies draw thousands as families end 1st week of encampment
Protests take place as Netanyahu convenes the cabinet a day after negotiators returned from Doha; families forum slam meeting as belated: ‘The opportunity is now’
By ToI Staff
Reading the Book of Esther on Purim night, March 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)
March 14, 2025, 12:02 pm
Thousands at Hostages Square for Purim gathering colored by hopes for captives’ salvation
Families write to Trump, as their only hope after ‘abandonment’ by government; ex-hostage Omer Shem Tov tears down ‘kidnapped’ sign, jokes about his last appearance on stage – in Gaza
By ToI Staff
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with the media on a military airplane as he flies to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 10, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP)
March 11, 2025, 1:35 am
US envoy Boehler’s Hamas meetings were a ‘one-off’ that ‘hasn’t borne fruit,’ Rubio says
Israeli negotiators head to Doha to discuss extending truce in return for further hostage releases; families urge return of all captives in a single phase
By Agencies, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid
Israelis protest for a hostage deal outside the home of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv on March 3, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
March 8, 2025, 4:48 pm
Rallies for hostages and against renewed judicial overhaul efforts begin in Tel Aviv
Demonstrators demand Israel extend ceasefire to save more captives; anti-overhaul movement reawakened by justice minister’s plan to oust attorney general
By ToI Staff
Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
March 1, 2025, 4:29 pm
At rally, ex-hostage urges return of all captives as deal’s 1st phase draws to close
Families forum says ‘window of opportunity is now,’ demands 59 remaining captives be returned by March 9; slain hostages Shlomo Mantzur, Itzik Elgarat to be buried in coming days
By ToI Staff
Top row (L-R) Tsahi Idan and Ohad Yahalomi; Bottom row (L-R) Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mantzur (Courtesy)
February 27, 2025, 12:52 pm
‘Bitter news’: Israel confirms identities of 4 bodies of hostages returned from Gaza
Remains ID’d of soccer-loving Itzik Elgarat, ‘passionate sportsman’ Ohad Yahalomi, ‘cheerful polymath’ Shlomo Mantzur, and ‘beloved’ Tsahi Idan; Herzog: ‘Israeli hearts ache’
By ToI Staff
People wave orange handkerchiefs in honor of the Bibas children as they demonstrate for the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel, in Buenos Aires on February 24, 2025. (JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)
February 25, 2025, 5:39 pm
Buenos Aires Jews hold massive demonstration on behalf of Bibas family
Some 15,000 take to the streets to commemorate the dual Israeli-Argentine citizens killed and held captive by Hamas, and to thank President Javier Milei for his support for Israel
By Michelle Mendeluk
Hundreds gather in New York’s Central Park for a rally urging a continuation of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal until all captives have been returned to Israel, February 23, 2025 (X screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law).
February 24, 2025, 9:42 am
Hundreds in NYC’s Central Park urge continuing hostage release-ceasefire deal
Freed hostage Ilana Gritzewsky and families of captives Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, address crowd, as does Democrat Congressman Ritchie Torres
By ToI Staff
Relatives are reunited with Avera Mengistu at a military facility near Re'im on February 22, 2025. (IDF)
February 22, 2025, 5:24 pm
A decade of ‘unimaginable suffering:’ Relief as Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed freed
Families say both men are barely communicating after being held in Hamas captivity for over 10 years after entering Gaza; Hisham was ‘destroyed, emotionally and cognitively’
By ToI Staff
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