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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hostages’ families mark 500th day of captivity with fast, rallies across Israel |
| 2025-02-18 |
| [IsraelTimes] Activists block roads, march to Knesset, call for 500-minute fast to mark days since hostages’ abduction; ‘They’ve already been fasting for 500 days,’ says relative Marking the 500th day since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and kidnapping, relatives of the hostages were leading rallies and fasts across the country on Monday to call attention to the captives’ plight. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum was leading the events, encouraging a 500-minute fast and daylong protests under the banner: “Get them out of hell.” A 500-minute fast? Who are they? Cindy Sheehan? Do they get Smoothie breaks? The fast started at 11:40 a.m. and will end at 8 p.m. with a rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. On Monday morning, hostage families and activists blocked roads across the country, including the central Namir Road in Tel Aviv. Family members of hostages and dozens of supporters also gathered outside the Hostages and Missing Families Forum tent on Azza Street in Jerusalem, near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home, where they began a march to the Knesset. Another rally was being held in Carmei Gat, the southern city where Nir Oz residents are living until their kibbutz is rebuilt. About 2,000 people crowd into Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to mark 500 days since October 7, 2023. Another 1,000 or so spill out to Shaul HaMelech Street, where speeches are projected on large screens. At 8 p.m., some of those in attendance break a 500-minute fast that the Hostages Families Forum had announced. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |