The empty table in Hostages Square

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 7th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a somber anniversary.

Two years ago today, Hamas terrorists stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel. They slaughtered more than 1,200 people, and took another 250 hostage.

REICHARD: The war that began that morning still rages, and families still wait for their loved ones to come home.

WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher reports from Israel.

AUDIO: [Sound of Western Wall prayers]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: It’s the hope of seemingly every Jew in Israel. From prayers whispered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:

AMRAM: That we should come to the end of the war soon enough, that we should have the hostages back…

…to demonstrations last week outside the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv:

AUDIO: [Demonstrations in Hebrew]

…where activists chanted and waved signs calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump to cut some kind—any kind—of a deal with Hamas. One that would secure the immediate release of dozens of hostages still held by the terror group.

And in a public plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art—a more somber scene:

AUDIO: [Piano playing]

…where Or Orel Sharabi plays piano under a nearby tree.

The music and warm sunshine may be soothing here, but it’s clear from the yellow ribbons and jarring posters that all is not well. In fact, just under two years ago, this plaza got a new name: Hostages Square.

SHARABI: I would prefer that it would be not like that. Just for people to just come here to celebrate good things.

AUDIO: [Sound from Hostages Square]

In the weeks after the massacre, families and supporters of the more than 250 hostages kidnapped by the terror group Hamas claimed this plaza as their own. And the signs are everywhere as a memorial. The charred remains of a bombed-out car left after the attack. Posters hanging from tree branches showing the faces of loved ones still in captivity. Even a series of long tables, with empty chairs and place settings symbolizing a future feast for each of the hostages when they finally come home.

Caleb McCall is visiting from Tennessee.

MCCALL: It just really brings to life anti-Semitism, that it’s real. That it’s happening across the globe, and it is very, very sad.

But while pilgrims like McCall may experience October 7th in the abstract, for others, it’s far more personal.

DAVID: It's hell.

That’s Ilay David. His younger brother Evyatar was one of the concertgoers at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. The two brothers grew up in a small town north of Tel Aviv.

DAVID: He’s one of my best friends. We both love music and every week we used to play music together.

In addition to music, Ilay says his brother loves socializing and sharing Shabbat dinner with their mother, father, and sister.

DAVID: He’s the kindest person I know. He's the best son to my parents. I'm his older brother, but I do learn from him how to be a better son.

Ilay says he and his brother had just returned from a family vacation shortly before the Nova Music Festival. Evyatar left at midnight the evening before the attacks. The next morning, their lives turned upside down.

DAVID: We woke up to the sirens, to the alarms, we run to the bomb shelter. My mom is trying to communicate with Evyatar…

Ilay knew the Nova Music Festival was on the very edge of the Gaza border, so he knew Evyatar was in danger. Six hours later when a video emerged of his brother in the hands of Hamas, Ilay’s heart sank.

DAVID: He was walking on, walking on his feet. He was tied up, shirt torn. He was bruised without his glasses, and a terrorist was holding him from his neck, dragging him inside the Gaza Strip.

Ilay says that video left him seeing red.

DAVID: I could only scream and curse and punch the wall and kick the wall. But then I realize that he's alive, and that's something. That's something.

Since that day, nearly 150 hostages have been returned alive and the bodies of nearly 60 have been recovered. Hamas is still holding around 50. More than half of that number are feared to be dead.

AUDIO: [No matter how, hostage deal now]

Over the past two years, family members and supporters have pressured Netanyahu to reach a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home—no matter the concessions.

AUDIO: [Sound of demonstration in Hebrew]

But Netanyahu insists any deal must result in the demilitarization of Gaza and the dismantlement of Hamas, or else October 7^th could happen again.

For his part, Ilay says he knows his brother is still alive. In February, when fellow hostages were released, Ilay says Hamas cruelly made Evyatar watch their release from a nearby van.

DAVID: They forced them to watch, they shut the door of the van, and they throw them back to the dungeon, right after they beg for their lives.

And in August, Evyatar appeared in another video. Ilay can’t bear to watch it..

AUDIO: [Sound of Evyatar talking, digging in video]

In the video, Evyatar is seen digging his own grave. His body is emaciated and he’s been surviving on little more than beans and lentils.

DAVID: You could barely recognize his voice in this video. I recognized it when I heard it by accident, to be honest, but my sister couldn't, and he was so weak. I mean, it barely, was barely able to speak. He did it only to he got a treat, a prize in the video.

Ilay knows the clock is ticking on his brother’s life. He says doctors have told him that in his current state, Evyatar’s body could give out at any time from shock and hunger. And he says he has one message for his brother:

DAVID: I would say that I love him, that all the family loves him, and all of his friends. And we are not going to give up until he's home, and he cannot give up. And I know that he doesn’t give up but I want him to know that we are thinking the same. Nobody can give up.

He also says that if Hamas agrees to any deal, the international community must hold their feet to the fire to make sure they carry it out.

AUDIO: [Piano playing]

So for now, the piano will keep playing in Hostages Square. And Ilay will keep praying. Praying that someday, the empty table in this plaza will be filled with food and laughter, when the missing sons and daughters of October 7^th finally come home.

DAVID: I miss his hug, I miss his smile. I miss those moments when we play together.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher in Israel.

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