Hostage families protest outside PM Netanyahu's home as nation marks year and a half of war and captivity

Exactly a year and a half after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, hostage families and supporters gathered outside the Jerusalem home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, carrying banners and pictures of the remaining 59 hostages. 

Echoing the start of the war, when rocket sirens started at 6:29 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 7, hostage families started the demonstration at 6:29 a.m. with a reading of the names of the remaining hostages, 549 days later. 

Similar protests took place outside the homes of other government ministers across the country, while signs with the phrase “History Will Remember” were placed outside the homes of senior coalition leaders, including Education Minister Yoav Kisch, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister and hostage negotiation leader Ron Dermer, MK Amichai Chikli, and other senior public figures involved in decision-making. 

Despite Netanyahu’s absence, as the premier was due to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, the protesters called on the prime minister to agree to a deal to release all the hostages.

Some of the families also addressed President Trump, asking him to help. 

Erez Adar, whose uncle Tamir Adar was murdered on Oct. 7, called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to release all the hostages in one deal. 

“I’m here today because we’re at a dead end. Fifty-nine people are in hell, with no end in sight. Fifty-nine people, who should be Israel’s most pressing issue, have been pushed aside,” Adar told the crowd outside the prime minister’s residence. 

“We’re furious,” Adar stated. “We call out to the prime minister from here – hostages first. All of them. In one phase. This is the top priority. We must bring everyone back – the living for rehabilitation, the dead for burial – for a chance at a better future.” 

Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of hostage Idan Alexander, referred to the upcoming Passover holiday and Passover Haggadah. 

“One and a half years since October 7, there’s a heavy, difficult feeling that bringing our loved ones back has been sidelined,” Baruch said.

“Fifty-nine hostages have not yet returned home to Israel – the living for rehabilitation, the dead for burial.” 

“We stand here outside the prime minister’s residence and appeal to you, Prime Minister: ‘In every generation, a person must see themselves as if they came out of Egypt.’ We say this in the Passover Haggadah. Now is your moment of truth. You’re in the U.S., and you need to sit there with President Trump and finalize a deal to bring everyone home. We expect this,” she pleaded. 

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was murdered by Hamas while in captivity, pleaded with the government not to endanger the lives of the remaining hostages.

“Forty-one hostages were murdered in captivity,” Dickman remarked. “We hear the Defense Minister saying, ‘In our view, we’re not endangering the hostages.’ Defense Minister Katz – we are living proof of the life-threatening danger facing the hostages; the living and the dead could be lost if you don’t act now.” 

Dickman also pleaded with Trump in English: “Please, it’s been a year and a half.” 

Dickman posted a message to 𝕏, showing him holding a picture of captured hostage Omri Miran, whom Netanyahu referred to yesterday as "the Hungarian hostage", provoking outrage from Miran's family that the prime minister didn't call him by name.

בשבילו זה ״החטוף ההונגרי״.
בשבילנו - לכל חטוף יש שם.

אילן וייס, עמרי מירן, ועוד 57! חטופים בעזה כבר שנה וחצי.
נתניהו - תחזיר אותם הביתה. עכשיו 🎗️ pic.twitter.com/U4dOC6a0MV

— Gil Dickmann | גיל דיקמן (@gildickmann) April 7, 2025

"For him [Netanyahu], it's "the Hungarian hostage." For us – every hostage has a name. Ilan Weiss, Omri Miran, and 57 others! have been kidnapped in Gaza for a year and a half. Netanyahu - Bring them home. Now!"

The Hostage Families Forum, which organized the protest, in a statement to the media, repeated their demand for a single deal to release all remaining hostages.

The group opposes another phased release, which could see Hamas or Israel retreat from completing the agreement. 

The protest comes as negotiations remain deadlocked and Israel has resumed military operations in the Gaza Strip, which the families say pose a direct threat to their loved ones.

They also come after recent sign-of-life videos released by Hamas of several of the surviving hostages.