Families of hostages start a march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
For ten days, Noam Alon, 24, has camped outside the central military headquarters in Tel Aviv, aiming to pressure the Israeli government to do more to protect his girlfriend of one and a half years, Inbar Heiman, and the more than 200 others hostages are currently being held in Gaza.
But with no news on when or if the prisoners will be released, Mr. Alon has grown impatient with the Israeli government and is moving from the spot where he and about 30 others have been sleeping. “We will not sit still,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr. Alon joined the families of about 50 hostages and supporters – about 100 people in all – who plan to march for five days from Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean coast, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, camping each night along the way.
Carrying water bottles and sleeping bags, the group marched away from a square opposite the military headquarters, chanting “Take them home now!”
Mr Alon, like many others at the march, wants Mr Netanyahu and his Cabinet to do everything they can to secure the release of those kidnapped by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in the October 7 attack, which, according to the Israeli government, killed 1,200 people. people.
“We believe that the Israeli government should pay any price,” Mr. Alon said, whether it be an exchange of prisoners, a ceasefire or the supply of fuel. The lives of the hostages are in the hands of the government, he said. Mr Netanyahu, who has made clear that Israel’s goal is to root out Hamas, has insisted that a ceasefire would be conditional on the release of hostages.
In late October, Israeli forces rescued one hostage, and four others were released by Hamas about a week earlier. But despite negotiating efforts led by the United States and Qatar, there have been no further breakthroughs on hostage releases. Families of the hostages have organized rallies over the past two weeks that have drawn thousands of people to the military headquarters.
Despite the outpouring of public support, those with relatives and friends held captive in Gaza feel frustrated.
“I’m tired of sitting around,” said Yuval Haran, 36, from Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that came under heavy attack on October 7. He has seven family members being held hostage in Gaza and was an organizer of the march. “I want to walk to the place where the decisions are made.”
The protesters, who range in age from their 20s to their 70s, walk about 10 miles a day along major highways and sleep in roadside campsites each night. They fill one lane of the highway, while police escorts, support staff and vans carrying supplies take up another lane.
Shelly Shem Tov, 51, whose son Omer, 21, was kidnapped from the Nova festival, joined the march to try to mobilize popular support and put pressure on Mr Netanyahu. She also sees leaving her comfort zone by marching on foot to Jerusalem as an opportunity to identify on a personal level with her son, who is in “a place I can’t even imagine,” she said.
On Monday, Hamas released a video of a hostage the group said was killed by an Israeli airstrike, raising concerns among families that Israel’s military operations in Gaza threaten the hostages’ lives.
In July, protesters against Netanyahu’s judicial reform organized a similar five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The hostages’ families have described the march as apolitical, but Avi Gur Arye, 73, who joined as a supporter, said it would be a blessing if the movement also contributed to a change of government, which he said would “divide and unraveling the structure of this country” after the war.
Mr. Alon said he wants to be optimistic that protesters won’t have to walk all the way. He said he hopes that during the march, “Everyone will say to us, ‘Stop walking.’ They’re here.'”