In a powerful display of anguish, families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza staged a “hunger exhibit” in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square on Saturday evening, surrounding a table with canned beans and pita bread scraps to symbolize the captives’ meager rations, as revealed in a video by hostage Evyatar David.
“My son should be home; he’s wasting away,” said Danny Miran, father of hostage Omri Miran. Meirav, aunt of hostage Guy Gilboa Dalal, added, “The people must give hostages energy. My nephew and Evyatar don’t eat even this daily. They’ll die of hunger—it’s inhuman.”
Machvit Meyer, aunt of hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, urged mass action. “We’ve never received footage of them, but Evyatar and Rom’s images mirror their suffering. Don’t look with pity—take to the streets. If masses protest, we might prevail against the evil holding them and deciding their fate,” she said.
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The exhibit set the stage for a weekly rally, intensified by fears over the government’s plan to expand military operations and take over Gaza, endangering the 50 remaining hostages.
“We need the Israeli people with us to cry: Don’t sacrifice our loved ones on the altar of endless war. Returning all 50 hostages is Israel’s only victory—this is the sole national interest. Bring them back before it’s too late,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Following speeches by supporters and former hostages, the families planned an “emergency march” around the IDF’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Simultaneously, thousands rallied across the country demanding the hostages’ safe return and an end to the war in Gaza.