How families of hostages and thousands of volunteers came together to bring them home

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed across the border into southern Israel. They went into communities, into army bases, into a music festival. They murdered. They raped. They massacred. They burned families alive in their homes. They kidnapped women, men, the elderly and children, dragging 251 people into Gaza. 

It was the biggest catastrophe to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust. But it wasn't just an Israeli disaster. People from over 20 countries were among the dead and abducted.

And less than 24 hours later, the families of those hostages, who themselves were living an unimaginable nightmare, did something. They didn't wait for instructions or for government officials. They came together and established the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a citizen-based organization with one goal: bring every hostage home, regardless of religion, race or gender. From day one, its goal was also to shut its doors as quickly as possible. We thought it would take a couple of months. It took 843 days.

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In the days that followed, people from all walks of Israeli society and around the world came to help. That's what so many did. They just tried to find ways of helping. That's how I found myself walking into a building in central Tel Aviv and joining the international media team. Thousands of others did the same across the forum: diplomats, former ambassadors, doctors, lawyers, media professionals and academics. People who couldn't sit idly by.

During the first months, we took foreign journalists to the destroyed kibbutzim and the Nova festival site. Family members whose loved ones were held captive walked the journalists through the wreckage of their homes. Through what was once their paradise and turned into hell. 

We also flew hundreds of family members to The Hague, where they called for the ICC to act against Hamas leaders who were responsible for this. These weren't professional advocates. These were ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary horror who refused to be silent. And that was just one chapter of a far-reaching effort that spanned dozens of countries.

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We knew early on that the global news cycle moves fast. Crises fade from headlines. That was our biggest fear, that the world would move on while hostages were still underground in Gaza. So we fought, every single day, to keep the world talking about them. The families were the ones who made that possible. 

For more than two years, enduring the biggest nightmare possible, they got out of bed every morning and became diplomats, speakers, fighters. They spoke to every news outlet, every world leader, every elected official who would listen. They retold their story of tragedy again and again. For some, those who survived the massacre themselves, that meant reliving it each time they sat in front of a camera. Some already knew they were fighting to bring their loved ones home for burial. For more than two years, all of them kept going.

And when the hostages began to come home, they, despite surviving months of hell, didn't retreat. Alongside families who still had loved ones in captivity, they traveled the world, meeting presidents, prime ministers and congressmen. They testified before the United Nations. They knew they couldn't really begin their own process of healing until all the hostages were back home.

Together, we made sure the call "Bring Them Home" would be heard around the world. And it was.

The Forum grew into something none of us saw coming. What started as an organization to unite the families became a headquarters for advocacy and a home for them. It provided families with personal, medical, legal and emotional support. It transformed them into a community and created a refuge during the darkest days of their lives. It operated 24/7, organizing hundreds of delegations of families and survivors to meet world leaders, running diplomatic efforts and coordinating chapters in 50 countries.

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This was the largest civil struggle in Israel's history. Then, on day 843, the last hostage, Ran Gvili, was returned. The Forum completed its mission.

It was a miracle. But this is not a happy ending.

Of the hostages brought home, 87 came home for burial. Forty-six men and women who were taken alive died in captivity. Families who spent more than two years fighting got back a coffin instead of a homecoming. Survivors carry wounds that may never fully heal.

Since Oct. 7, for these families and for the Jewish people, it has still been Oct. 7. The calendar moved. Time didn't. There are finally no hostages left in Gaza, but there is no sense of triumph. Only exhaustion and grief and the crushing weight of everything that can never be returned.

This is not over. Not for the families. Not for the survivors. Not for the people who gave everything to this fight. Not for the entire nation of Israel.

The world must never forget what happened on Oct. 7. And the world must never forget what these families did in response. How they turned the deepest pain imaginable into the loudest, most unwavering demand for humanity the world has ever heard.

Bring Them Home was never just a slogan. It was a promise. And we kept it. All of us.