Gaza 100 days: Mass Israeli rally demands Netanyahu bring hostages home

Or Sela is a relative of Tal Shoham, who is still held hostage in Gaza. "100 days after Oct. 7, I’m calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say again what he had told us, the families of the hostages, only once: that bringing them home tops everything else," he told Al-Monitor. He believes no deal to release the hostages will be reached until Netanyahu puts bringing them home before the ground operation in Gaza.

Sela spoke hours after the conclusion of a 24-hour rally at Tel Aviv Museum Square marking the 100th day of the war. Some 120,000 people joined the rally, which ran from Saturday night to Sunday night. Since the attack, the "hostage square" has served as a focal point for demonstrations and gatherings organized by the families of those taken hostage by Hamas. 

For 24 hours, Israeli artists, singers, activists, family members of hostages held in Gaza, survivors of the Oct. 7 attack and families displaced from the south of Israel, all demanded that the Israeli government bring the hostages home. The crowd of thousands chanted "Now!" over and over again.

Moran Stela Yanai was kidnapped Oct. 7 from the Nova music festival and released from Gaza on Nov. 29 after 54 days in captivity. Addressing the crowd, she said, "There is nothing more urgent. We are now stopping everything for 100 minutes because we must fight until the last person imprisoned there returns home. One hundred days of abandonment, violence and mental abuse. I'm standing here because I know what it's like to be there."