Tens of thousands filled Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Monday night to mark the harrowing milestone of 500 days since Hamas terrorists brutally stormed southern Israel and took 251 people hostage.
Seventy-three of those kidnapped on October 7 remain in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, with freed hostages relaying signs of life from over a dozen of them who hadn’t been heard from for months.
Shackled in tunnels, untreated serious injuries, starvation, and psychological torture are just some of the gut-wrenching testimonies that have been shared. These testimonies are pushing families over the edge to pressure officials to do everything they can to bring everyone home.
“Tonight is a special evening for us,” said Danielle Aloni, the sister-in-law of hostage David Cunio. “We recently received another sign of life.”
Aloni told the crowd that one of the recently released hostages told the family he was with Cunio in captivity. The Cunio family is one of a dozen to receive a sign of life from their loved ones, after hostages who returned home shared critical information about captivity and the other hostages they were held with.
This knowledge has given families a blast of hope, along with dire fear coming from the severe and life-threatening conditions in which their loved ones are being held.
“David has no more time to wait,” said Aloni. “[It’s been] 500 days that our brothers are living in fear of death there in the tunnels. They don’t know if, in two minutes [from now], they will still be alive.”
Aloni and her six-year-old daughter Emilia were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and released in the November 2023 deal. Aloni was taken with her sister, Sharon, and her three-year-old twin nieces, along with Cunio from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Both Cunio and his brother, Ariel, are still being held captive in Gaza.
Some families have not received signs of life from their loved ones in months; many haven’t received any signs at all. In November, the family of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander saw their son alive in a Hamas propaganda video. The 20-year-old from Tenafly, New Jersey, was kidnapped on October 7 while serving along the Gaza border.
“I haven’t breathed for 500 days,” said Yael Alexander, Edan’s mother. “In 500 days, you can hike across the United States from coast to coast, twice.”
The crowd could feel the agony and anxiety locked in Alexander’s voice as she stood there with a slick back ponytail, addressing the tens of thousands there in solidarity.
Thank you, President Trump
She thanked US President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for helping move the current deal along and initiate the hostage releases. So far, 19 Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals were released, with three more living hostages expected to return on Saturday.
“President Trump, the past two weeks, you brought back two Americans, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel – today I ask you to bring my son Edan back home to our family so he can continue his life in America,” she said.
Edan Alexander is the only American hostage still in captivity believed to be alive, as Hamas holds the bodies of four other Americans murdered in Gaza.
Aviva Siegel, the wife of Keith, himself an American citizen who was freed last week, said that Keith lost 30 kg. in captivity and was locked in a small room. She also said that for six months, he was held completely alone. Keith’s brother, Lee, recently told The Jerusalem Post that Keith would imagine conversations in his mind with his loved ones while in captivity.
“So many times, he thought he wouldn’t survive,” said Siegel, who herself was released in the November deal in 2023. Since her release, Siegel has worked to spread awareness for the plight of the hostages, both in Israel and abroad.
“I was in Gaza. I survived. Keith survived. The others will not. My heart is broken for the hostages and their families,” she said.
The families of hostages, along with segments of the public, fasted for 500 minutes yesterday – from 11:40 a.m. to 8 p.m. – ending it at the start of the protest.