After 733 days, news of agreement greeted with celebration in Tel Aviv and stickers saying: ‘They’re coming home’
For 733 days, Israelis have come to “hostages square” in Tel Aviv with a yellow piece of tape on their shirts bearing the number of days since 251 hostages had been taken captive by Hamas-led militants. On Thursday, the yellow stickers remained but the tally was gone. In its place was a simple phrase: “They’re coming home.”
For two years, protesters had occupied the square, which faces the Israeli military headquarters, with an encampment and held rallies demanding the hostages be returned from Gaza. The area was filled with art installations, pictures of the hostages and an electronic screen counting the days and seconds that hostages had been in captivity.