Grassroots hostage families group grows into influential international lobbying force

The Hostages Families Forum has evolved from a tight-knit group gathered in Tel Aviv into a powerful international lobbying force that shapes public opinion and diplomacy around the Gaza hostage crisis. What began as a responsive, emotionally driven effort by relatives of those seized on 7 October 2023 grew into a structured campaign that coordinated protests, cultural events, and high-level diplomacy, attracting thousands of volunteers and international attention. As the forum’s operations wind down in stages, its impact on politics, media coverage, and policy discussions remains a notable feature of the two-year conflict.

In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square—the focal point of the campaign—the main stage has been dismantled and the office hubs once buzzing with activity have emptied. Yet the material reminders linger: posters were taken down, and the forum’s nerve center vacated. The numbers surrounding the hostage crisis continue to frame how the public understands the issue: of the 251 hostages seized by Hamas and other armed groups in the October 7 attacks, 168 have been brought back alive from Gaza, eight have been rescued, and only one deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, remains unaccounted for in Gaza. Ran’s father, Itzik Gvili, speaks for many when he says, “I feel every day is still the 7 October. We didn’t pass the 7 October, but we are strong, and we’re waiting for him. We do whatever we need. This gives us hope: the support of the people.”

From the outset, the forum’s slogan—“Bring them home now”—was more than a cry for justice; it became a organizing framework that gave bereaved and displaced families a sense of regain control after moments when the government and the state were perceived as overwhelmed. The group divided its work between supporting families and campaigning abroad, leveraging a model that drew on the energy of civil society. By mobilizing more than 10,000 volunteers—including former diplomats, lawyers, and security officials—the forum created a broad, professional network that could sustain momentum across political cycles and international borders. The group’s resources were modest—funded entirely by donations—yet staff were paid as fundraising grew, and a central Tel Aviv office space was lent by a high-tech company.

As a symbol of how civil society could serve as an informal diplomatic partner, the forum combined public demonstrations with diplomatic briefings, media outreach, and cultural events designed to keep hostages at the center of national attention. Their approach earned attention from foreign officials and visiting delegations, who often found themselves guided by a domestic actors’ network that operated like a parallel foreign ministry for the families.

In November 2023, as the Gaza war intensified, a Qatar-mediated truce briefly paused the fighting and allowed the return of many women and children in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; however, fighting resumed after about a week. Those early weeks underscored the forum’s role in sustaining attention when political attention waxed and waned. December brought tragedy as three Israeli hostages were killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza despite attempting to surrender with makeshift white flags. The losses reinforced for many forum members the stakes of keeping the issue in the public eye and within political reach.

In early 2024, amid polls suggesting some Israelis prioritized defeating Hamas over rescuing hostages, the forum brought in political strategist Lior Chorev as campaign manager to sharpen how the movement framed public opinion. He described the group’s aim as ensuring that any potential deal would have broad civilian support inside Israel, even if ultimate negotiations remained in government hands. The forum’s strategy blended public demonstrations with targeted diplomacy, making it possible for a civil society group to influence discourse even when government positions were shifting.

The campaign surfaced in a variety of forms: Saturday evening demonstrations outside cultural venues, art installations that placed hostage stories in public spaces, and constant media and diplomatic teams that kept the campaign's objective visible for audiences around the world. Tal Schneider, Times of Israel political correspondent, noted that the forum’s HQ earned a reputation as a de facto foreign ministry for families, inviting visiting officials and foreign partners to engage directly with those closest to the missing loved ones. As Michael Levy, whose sister-in-law Einav was killed at the Nova Festival and whose brother Or was later released, recalls: the forum’s relentless activity helped him manage the emotional rollercoaster—interviewing with delegations, engaging with media, and traveling to countries seeking leverage for a deal. “You need to stay optimistic all the time,” he said, “you need to tell yourself every morning that today is going to be the day that he’s going to be released, even though you know you are lying to yourself.”

By early 2025, the campaign’s scope had grown to include a significant focus on international diplomacy, with organizers seeking to influence U.S. policy and leveraging relationships with mediators in the region. The forum’s leadership argued that to secure a civilian majority for any deal, it was essential to show broad public support for resolving hostages’ fates. Its efforts culminated in a Gaza deal negotiated with the help of regional mediators and U.S. involvement, under which a first stage freed 33 living hostages—eight of them dead—alongside the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, plus five Thai hostages. The parties also agreed to a substantial increase in humanitarian aid and a partial withdrawal, though the ceasefire’s second stage remained uncertain as mid-March brought renewed Israeli military operations in Gaza.

The year also saw heightened international attention, with the forum expanding its influence in the United States as the political landscape shifted. Members visited multiple capitals, met with foreign officials, and pressed for a deal that would bring all those held alive back to Israel. The group’s narrative—driven by the core value that no one should be left behind—resonated with parts of the public long unsettled by the war’s human cost. As U.S. engagement intensified, the forum helped coordinate visits and messages that highlighted the personal dimension of the crisis, including appeals to the White House and to Congress.

By the end of 2024 and into early 2025, the forum counted hundreds of thousands of supporters in Israel and abroad. In Tel Aviv, a public memory remained visible: a symbolic tunnel, a large “Hope” sign, a piano dedicated to a released hostage, and a countdown board marking the days since 7 October 2023 remained in Hostages Square, symbols that the family-led movement had transformed into a living archive of a national crisis. The Gvili family itself remained engaged with both the original Hostages Families Forum and an alternative group known as the Tikva Forum, reflecting how the movement had fractured into federations of families united by a common goal but divergent in method.

Despite the progress, questions linger about why more hostages could not have been saved earlier and how much government action contributed to or hindered those efforts. In recent months, the Hostages Families Forum released harrowing Hamas videos recovered in Gaza that showed some of the six hostages who were later murdered celebrating Hanukkah in a tunnel in 2023, underscoring the personal cost of every decision in these negotiations. The group’s leaders say they are preserving funds to assist the families of those still unaccounted for and to support ongoing efforts to return Ran Gvili, the last living symbol of the initial tragedy, to his family for burial once his body is recovered.

As the world continues to watch, the forum’s legacy is clear: a civil society campaign that reframed a national crisis as a global human-rights and diplomacy issue, mobilized thousands of volunteers, and kept hostage negotiations on the international agenda even when political winds shifted. It demonstrated the potential power—and the limits—of grassroots campaigns in shaping state policy during wartime. The final chapter remains unwritten, contingent on the fate of Ran Gvili and the broader political process to resolve the conflict. A final mass rally is promised for the moment Ran Gvili’s body is returned for burial, and for many in Israel, that moment cannot come soon enough.

Another image from the campaign illustrates the scale of support that gathered around the families’ cause during the movement’s peak, capturing the social and political energy that made the Hostages Families Forum a uniquely influential actor in this conflict. A further banner in the square, preserved as part of the campaign’s memory, has continued to symbolize the enduring demand for accountability and the return of every hostage.

The story of the Hostages Families Forum touches on broader themes of civil society during war: how grass-roots groups can mobilize public sentiment, influence policy debates, and partner with international mediators to press for concrete outcomes. It also invites reflection on how governments manage crises that test national endurance and political legitimacy. As the forum’s active phase winds down, its legacy—built on shared grief, resilience, and a sense of shared responsibility for each and every Israeli held by an adversary—persists in memory and in ongoing efforts to secure the return of Ran Gvili and all other hostages still in Gaza.