From 7 October onward, Israelis have clung to the one hope that unified this normally fractious and now broken society: freeing the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The faces of those stolen people haunt us on every street. Hope soared when nearly half of the hostages were released in a temporary ceasefire deal last month, and Israelis took to the streets demanding more.
Then on Friday, three hostages who had survived 70 days in violent, wartime captivity in Gaza somehow got loose, only for Israeli forces to mistake them as a threat – and shoot them dead. They were shirtless and holding a white flag. Collective misery flowed. Demonstrators stalked the streets of Tel Aviv at midnight, clamouring for a new hostage-release deal, and thousands poured out on Saturday evening, shouting the clipped, almost primal cry, “Now!”
