October 7 Families Hold Election-Day Silence at Hostages Square

Bereaved relatives and family members of captivity survivors gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, October 27, opening their election-day statements with a minute of silence at 06:29. The families appealed to voters to remember their loved ones and the failures surrounding the October 7 attack when casting their ballots. The families said relatives murdered in the attack and those killed in battle could no longer vote or exercise their democratic rights. Organizers said participants were due to head to polling stations after the statements, carrying signs asking voters to remember those killed and the hostages. They said the activity was not affiliated with any party and would not call for a vote for a particular list. Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam was murdered at the Nova festival, addressed the gathering. “Remember all those whose voices have fallen silent,” Adam said. She asked voters to keep in mind those killed, fallen soldiers, people living with combat trauma and the families whose lives had been devastated. Adam also called for change and a state commission of inquiry, alongside hope and healing for the families and for Israel. Her remarks joined the remembrance of those killed to a demand to examine the failures surrounding October 7. The gathering brought those appeals to the square on the morning of the Knesset election.