Thousands gathered Saturday night at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for the weekly rally demanding the return of Israelis still held in Gaza, just two days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s critical White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose new peace initiative aims to end the war and secure the hostages’ release.
Freed hostage Doron Steinbrecher, who was held in Gaza before her release, told the crowd she feels consumed by survivor’s guilt and despair.
“I wish the hostages could hear me now,” she said. “Believe that your people want you here. I don’t usually shout, but I feel like yelling ‘enough.’ This is my last fumes.”
Steinbrecher spoke of the constant weight of guilt. “There’s no quiet. The guilt that I’m here and they’re not is always over my head. You sleep with guilt, you wake with guilt, you smile with guilt. It follows you like a cloud. If there’s an opportunity now—and it’s in the headlines—don’t miss it. Don’t miss the hope.”
She recalled the moments in captivity when she clung to belief. “You try to believe when your tunnel is bombed and you’re moved through Gaza’s streets. You try to believe when helicopters bomb above you, when you’re given no food, when you’re beaten, when you see others released. You try to believe when you hear the prime minister’s promises over loudspeakers, when you hear Trump’s threats and vows. You grab at anything to believe you won’t be forgotten.”
“You are not a hostage alone”
Ronen Ohel, brother of hostage Alon Ohel—seen in a Hamas video released on Rosh Hashanah—told the rally his family lives with unbearable pain.
“Your video broke me,” he said, addressing Alon. “But you are not a hostage alone—we are with you, all of Israel is with you.”
He urged Netanyahu to return from Washington with concrete results. “Not letters, not statements, not delays. There is an opportunity now to be a leader. Don’t come back without saying: I brought Alon home. I brought them all home.”
Speaking just before Yom Kippur, Ohel added: “I ask forgiveness from Alon—that you are not home yet, that maybe I haven’t done enough. But I want forgiveness only when you’re back with us. Because the truth is, every moment you’re there and we’re here, I can’t breathe.”
Families call for an end to the war
Others also delivered emotional appeals. Lishi Miran-Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran, warned the war has crossed every red line.
“Every citizen should be deeply worried,” she said. “Every day becomes crazier and more dangerous. The brakes are off. The only way to stop this descent is a full agreement to end the war and bring back all the hostages and soldiers. We’ve been in these ‘Days of Awe’ for 722 days straight—each one worse than the last.”
Nira Sharabi, whose husband Yossi was murdered in Hamas captivity and whose body remains in Gaza, described the quiet moments of grief.
“Sometimes it’s just making coffee and setting only one cup,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the birthdays, the holidays, the seventh of October again. And still 48 hostages remain. What kind of world lets this go on two years after our lives collapsed?”
Sharabi urged ministers to reflect as Yom Kippur approaches. “Ask yourselves: what more can I do to end the abandonment of the hostages, their families, and Israel’s values? The right path is one deal, one stage, all of them released—living to rehabilitation, the dead to a painful burial.”
Her daughter Yuval, 19, described marking her father’s birthday at the beach where he once surfed. “It was moving, connecting, full of love—but above all, it was without him. Without his hug, without even a grave to sit at together.”
Yuval demanded action. “My only wish is a grave for my father who was murdered after being kidnapped from our home. I’m about to enlist in the army to serve my country. I expect the country to do everything to protect its citizens. Don’t abandon the living hostages. Don’t abandon the dead.”
“Two years in darkness”
Maya Shamiel, cousin of hostage Eitan Horen, said he spent his 39th birthday this week still in Hamas captivity, just as he did last year.
“Two years of darkness, hunger, and fear,” she said. “Our family, like all the others, is broken. Time stopped on October 7, 2023. Weeks passed, then months, then a year and a half. Now almost two years. And nothing moves.”
She said Israel’s leaders must make a choice. “The choice is between abandoning Eitan and the others, or saving lives. Between more announcements of ‘cleared for publication’ and bringing them home. The government cannot keep going against the will of the people, sacrificing hostages and soldiers.”
As the rally ended, chants of “Bring them home now” filled Hostages Square, echoing the families’ plea that Netanyahu use his meeting with Trump to seize what they see as a fleeting chance.
First published: 21:41, 09.27.25